The Reserve Bank of India has rolled out significant enhancements to India's digital payment landscape, introducing UPI tap-to-pay for seamless transactions and expanding Bharat Connect's forex capabilities to include multiple international currencies.
Key Points
- RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced new UPI features, including tap-to-pay at PoS terminals and a customer support solution called FiMI.
- The UPI tap-to-pay feature enables PIN-less transactions up to ₹5,000 using NFC technology, supporting UPI and RuPay credit cards on UPI.
- NPCI introduced MyUPI with 'User Controls' like a 'Safety Switch' to decline suspicious debit transactions and delink mobile numbers from UPI payments.
- RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain announced multi-currency capabilities for forex on Bharat Connect, initially supporting Euro, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc, and UAE Dirham.
- Bharat Connect's multi-currency initiative aims to expand forex services beyond the US Dollar through integration with FX-Retail.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra announced the launch of new products on India's real-time payments system Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
This includes an ability to tap-to-pay using UPI at Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals and a customer support solution that works on a small language model called Finance Model for India (FiMI).
UPI Tap-to-Pay and Enhanced Security
The UPI tap-to-pay feature supports transactions across multiple types of accounts.
This includes UPI, RuPay credit card on UPI, with the ability to transact without requiring network connectivity on a mobile phone.
The feature is enabled by near-field communication technology, which is supported by compatible smartphones and PoS devices.
"Users can make UPI PIN-less transactions of up to ₹5,000, above which the user needs to enter their UPI PIN on the POS terminal," the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), said in a statement.
The launch was announced at the Global Fintech Fest 2026.
NPCI said that transactions authenticated by biometrics, which includes methods such as face scan or fingerprints, surpassed 6.29 billion since launch last year.
MyUPI and User Controls
MyUPI provides users with a single view of UPI transactions and Autopay mandates in a single window across banks and UPI apps. MyUPI introduces features such as User Controls to empower users with a safety net for their UPI payments.
This includes a Safety Switch, which allows users to decline UPI debit transactions, in case of a suspected compromise.
NPCI said the feature also allows users to delink their mobile number from receiving UPI payments.
Bharat Connect's Multi-Currency Forex Expansion
On Wednesday, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain announced the introduction of multicurrency capabilities for the forex category on Bharat Connect as part of a controlled user group launch.
Following the successful completion and assessment of the CUG phase, the offering is proposed to be extended across more Bharat Connect channels and participating banks, NPCI said.
It added that the initiative aims to extend the existing forex proposition beyond the US Dollar and provide customers access to a wider range of forex services through a single platform.
Operated by NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited, the platform integrates with FX-Retail, operated by Clearcorp Dealing Systems (India) Limited (Clearcorp), wholly owned subsidiary of The Clearing Corporation of India Limited will now support Euro, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Swiss Franc and UAE Dirham.
