NPCI AiNxt and AtOM are two agentic AI platforms the National Payments Corporation of India launched on September 9, 2026, at Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai. AiNxt is an open-source suite for building and deploying AI agents with the models an organization chooses. AtOM automates how specification changes, partner onboarding, testing and certification move between NPCI, banks and payment service providers, starting with UPI.
Below: what NPCI announced, what it has not said, who is affected and five steps for B2B fintech, SaaS and AI vendors that sell to Indian banks and payment companies. Descriptions come from NPCI's own GitHub repositories and from Business Standard, Inc42 and MediaNama coverage. Where we interpret what it means for vendors, we say so.
What NPCI announced at Global Fintech Fest 2026
The seventh Global Fintech Fest ran from September 8 to 11, 2026, at Jio World Centre and Trident BKC in Mumbai. At the inauguration on September 8, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi present, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra called fintech "a valuable partner in building the financial system of the future" and said, "We have encouraged self-regulation within the sector," Business Standard reported.
The next day, NPCI, which operates UPI, RuPay and FASTag, launched AiNxt and Agentic Orchestration and Messaging (AtOM). Business Standard's September 10 explainer says both are designed to use AI to automate enterprise workflows and processes across India's digital payments ecosystem. Inc42 and MediaNama covered the same launch.
AiNxt: a suite for building and running AI agents
According to NPCI, as reported by Business Standard, AiNxt is an enterprise-focused platform that lets organizations and individuals create and deploy AI agents. It follows a bring-your-own-model approach and offers no-code, low-code and developer-oriented options. NPCI's repositories carry the line "One Intelligence. Works for Everyone." and describe four parts:
- AiNxt OS. A foundation for engineering teams building their own AI applications, agents and workflows, with identity and access, guardrails and audit built in. The repository says plainly: "It is not an end-user product."
- AiNxt Enterprise. A browser-based application for working with AI inside an organization, designed to run on the organization's own infrastructure. The repository lists Anthropic Claude, OpenAI GPT, Ollama and other services that use the OpenAI format as model options.
- AiNxt Code. An AI coding agent for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs.
- AiNxt CLI. An AI coding agent that runs in the terminal, using the models and providers the developer chooses.
One detail matters for anyone selling into regulated finance. The AiNxt OS documentation describes an RBI outsourcing register: a cloud model route receives no traffic unless a board-approved outsourcing arrangement is recorded for it. NPCI built the regulatory expectation into the default behavior.
AtOM: agent-to-agent orchestration for ecosystem changes
NPCI said AtOM can manage system integration, change management, partner onboarding, testing and certification through a single workflow, according to Business Standard. It is initially intended for ecosystems such as UPI, where changes often need to be implemented and certified across multiple banks and payment service providers. Interactions are machine-readable and digitally signed, which NPCI said can support compliance and audit requirements. The architecture is based on JSON-RPC 2.0 and could potentially be extended to other NPCI products and payment systems.
NPCI's GitHub account splits AtOM into two repositories:
- AtOM network platform. The publishing side. AI agents turn an idea into research, requirements, technical specifications, schemas and certification test cases, then distribute them to registered partners over the Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol, generate code against a real repository and run certification. Each stage passes to the next only after an evaluation gate, and a human opens the merge request.
- AtOM partner platform. The receiving side, written for every bank, payment service provider and third-party app provider that must implement a change. It covers a change inbox, feasibility assessment against the partner's own capability profile, questions and negotiation on rollout terms, and readiness reporting. It calls itself "reference base code, not a product."
| Platform | What NPCI says it does | Stated users | Official code |
|---|---|---|---|
| AiNxt | Build, test and deploy AI agents; bring your own model; no-code to developer options | Organizations, individuals, engineering and IT teams | OS, Code, CLI, Enterprise |
| AtOM | Integration, change management, partner onboarding, testing and certification in one workflow; signed, machine-readable interactions | Banks, payment service providers and third-party app providers in ecosystems such as UPI | Network platform, partner platform |
What NPCI has not said
None of the sources we reviewed name adopting banks, pilot participants, commercial terms or rollout dates for AiNxt or AtOM. Treat any claim about those as unconfirmed until NPCI or an adopting institution publishes it.
Agent-initiated payments are a separate thread. In a keynote on September 10, MediaNama reported, NPCI chairman Ajay Kumar Choudhary said NPCI is examining protocols to identify and authorize digital agents within UPI. His boundary was clear: "AI may recommend, but authentication and final settlement must follow deterministic auditable rules." MediaNama noted that no framework specific to AI agents governs those rails yet.
Who it affects
- Banks and payment service providers. AtOM targets the work they already do whenever a UPI change is published: reading specifications, assessing effort, asking questions, building, testing and certifying. The partner platform is written for them to fork.
- Third-party app providers. NPCI's partner repository names them alongside banks and payment service providers as implementers of ecosystem changes.
- Engineering and IT teams at regulated entities. AiNxt gives them an NPCI-published option for agents, coding assistants and internal AI tools that runs on their own infrastructure.
- Merchants. NPCI's descriptions of AiNxt and AtOM do not name merchants. Merchant-facing agentic news at the fest came from other companies. Amazon Pay, for example, said agentic UPI payments through its Smart wallet were live for flight ticket booking, per MediaNama. Vendors should not pitch AiNxt or AtOM as merchant products.
For vendors, our reading is that three groups should pay attention. AI and developer tooling vendors now meet an open-source, NPCI-published alternative in bank conversations. Integration, testing, certification and system integrator firms work on the same change lifecycle AtOM automates. Security, identity and compliance vendors will find buyers expecting signed, auditable evidence as a baseline.
What B2B vendors should do
- Follow the official sourcesNPCI repositories and releases, not summaries.
- Map adopting membersTrack public adoption by bank and provider.
- Position with proofShow how you work alongside, with evidence.
- Run account-based outreachReach the owners at member institutions.
- Publish an explainerDated, sourced and ready for AI search.
1. Follow the official documentation and pilot announcements
Watch the NPCI GitHub account for releases, documentation changes and contribution guidelines, and NPCI's press releases for any pilot or adoption news. Keep the Unified Agent Protocol and agent payments on a separate watch list so the two stories do not blur in your messaging.
2. Map which NPCI members are adopting
Build a list by segment: public sector banks, private banks, small finance and payments banks, payment service providers and third-party app providers. Record only public signals, such as a bank or provider announcement, an executive talk, an earnings call remark or a job posting that names AiNxt or AtOM. Where there is no signal, mark the account as unknown rather than guessing.
3. Position integrations and compliance proof
If your product touches UPI change implementation, testing, AI governance or audit, explain how it works alongside AtOM or AiNxt, and only claim an integration you have built. Never imply an NPCI partnership, certification or endorsement you have not been given. Prepare a proof pack that answers what a bank's due diligence will ask: where data is stored, how models are chosen, what is logged and who can audit it.
4. Plan account-based outreach to member banks and payment companies
Tier accounts by fit and public signal, then reach the owners: heads of digital payments and UPI, enterprise architecture, engineering, the CISO and compliance. Open with a specific workflow, such as certification effort for a UPI change, rather than a platform pitch. Our account-based marketing service and India B2B lead generation work run this motion, and our Mumbai pipeline generation team covers the city's banking and payments market.
5. Publish an answer-ready explainer for AI search
Buyers will ask ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google what AtOM means for their vendors. Publish a dated page that states what NPCI announced, links the official sources and explains where your product fits, with a short FAQ. Guides on documentation that earns AI citations and security pages for AI visibility cover the format, and our AEO, GEO and SEO service builds it.
Data and compliance context
Agentic tools do not change the rules that apply to the institutions buying them. Four sources set the baseline for vendors:
- Payment data storage. RBI's FAQ on its April 6, 2018 circular says payment system providers must store the entire data relating to the payment systems they operate in systems located only in India, and that the directions apply to all banks operating in India.
- IT outsourcing. The RBI (Outsourcing of Information Technology Services) Directions, 2023, dated April 10, 2023 and in effect from October 1, 2023, require regulated entities to carry out due diligence on service providers. Agreements must cover data storage only in India where applicable. Periodic independent review and audit is also required.
- AI governance. RBI released the FREE-AI committee report on August 13, 2025, with seven guiding principles and 26 recommendations across six pillars, per Dvara Research's summary. MediaNama noted in September 2026 that the recommendations are not binding.
- Personal data. PIB says the DPDP Rules were notified on November 14, 2025, with an eighteen-month period for phased compliance. Data fiduciaries must keep reasonable security safeguards and inform affected individuals of a personal data breach without delay.
This section summarizes public sources as of September 14, 2026. It is not legal advice. Have counsel confirm which obligations apply to your product and your customers.
Where Lemniscate fits
Lemniscate Growth builds revenue pipeline for B2B SaaS, AI and fintech infrastructure companies selling to banks and payment companies in India and beyond. The CipherBC case study shows the model: named account lists, personal outreach to payments and treasury leaders, and pre-booked event meetings. Book a free growth audit and we will map which institutions to prioritize, who owns the decision and what proof they will ask for.
