NPCI, IRCTC And CoRover Introduce Conversational Voice Payments

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), and CoRover unveiled the first-ever conversational voice payment for unified payment interface (UPI), at the global fintech fest 2024, as per a press release. With its integration with payment gateway, this innovative feature marks a major advancement in the ease and accessibility of digital transactions.

With the new conversational payments, customers can now complete transactions by using their voice or typing their UPI ID or mobile number. The system automatically retrieves the corresponding UPI ID and initiates a payment request via the user's default UPI app when a mobile number is provided.

Vishal Anand Kanvaty, CTO, of NPCI, said, “I am excited for this launch because it addresses India and Bharat. Also, I think it helps all the citizens of this country to make the payment very seamless. We launched UPI123 last year, but the real use cases have started now, and I think we will see this scale happening on this.”

To ensure a seamless and flexible payment experience, the feature also gives consumers the option to update their mobile number or UPI ID within the transaction time limit.

This technology is the first-ever conversational voice payment system to pay to merchants using UPI. The system utilises payment gateway’s APIs to ensure a smooth and secure transaction process, with CoRover's voice enabled  BharatGPT, enhancing the payment process. The system is a multilingual marvel by supporting voice-inputs in Hindi, Gujarati, and other languages, making it truly inclusive.

Positioned as an innovation driven by NPCI, the feature also provides the users the flexibility to choose from the other payment methods like credit/debit cards, net banking, and wallets.

Sanjay Kumar Jain, CMD, IRCTC, said, “As I speak, your payment will not get deducted. You have to speak; you have to raise your voice to get your payment deducted and get the tickets. That's what we are offering.”

This Conversational Voice Payments powered by UPI and BharatGPT, a Sovereign AI, has been seamlessly integrated into AskDISHA, the AI virtual assistant for IRCTC and Indian Railways. Now, users can effortlessly book tickets and make payments using just their voice, making the entire process smoother, faster, and more convenient than ever.