Pine Labs has recently partnered with OpenAI to incorporate the latter’s APIs directly into its payment infrastructure, aiming to facilitate what the company terms ‘agentic commerce’. This move signals a shift from traditional rule-based transaction processing towards systems that can make autonomous decisions within set compliance guidelines.
This collaboration places Pine Labs at the forefront of integrating agentic AI in India’s digital payments ecosystem, which processed over 180 billion transactions annually. The Indian fintech market is forecasted to be valued at USD 1.5 trillion by 2026, largely due to advancements like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
Shifting from deterministic processing to probabilistic reasoning
The core technology of this partnership involves shifting from a traditional ‘if/then’ logic that has guided fintech systems towards an AI-driven ‘reasoning layer’. This new component is designed to interpret contexts, evaluate multiple options, and execute financial workflows independently. According to Pine Labs, this transition transforms the company’s infrastructure from a passive participant in transactions into an active system capable of optimizing these workflows.
Under this model, AI agents would be able to undertake complex tasks such as negotiating supplier terms, improving cross-border settlement efficiency, and managing recurring payment obligations. OpenAI’s models will supply the decision-making capabilities, with Pine Labs’ existing payment channels serving as the operational framework for regulated financial outcomes.
Security, compliance, and third-party access
Pine Labs has assured that all AI-driven workflows will operate within its robust enterprise security and compliance framework, which includes data isolation, encryption, and mandatory human oversight when needed. The architecture is constructed to meet the stringent regulatory requirements of high-stakes financial environments.
Beyond internal use, Pine Labs intends to make this agentic stack accessible to its developer community, enabling third-party developers to build AI-native fintech applications on the platform. As an example, the UPI Reserve Pay feature will support scaled conversational commerce, allowing users to delegate financial decisions through intelligent agents within a single conversation rather than separate searches and payments.
Pine Labs operates in India and several international markets such as Malaysia, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, the US, and Africa. Its service offerings include online payment processing, affordability solutions for merchants, fintech infrastructure for financial institutions, and issuing services encompassing prepaid instruments, gift cards, and credit products across various regions.
