NPCI spins out NTSL to sell AI, blockchain and DPI tech beyond UPI

The National Payments Corporation of India said on November 4, 2026 that it has formed NPCI Tech Solutions Limited (NTSL), a wholly owned subsidiary that will act as the technology and innovation arm of the NPCI group. Business Standard, Inc42, Economic Times and Fortune India all reported the launch from NPCI's statement. Focus areas named by NPCI are artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure and global capability centre services, plus technology work for eKYC Setu, the Unified Ticketing Platform and other digital public infrastructure programmes.

NTSL is NPCI's fourth wholly owned unit after NPCI International Payments Limited, NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited and NPCI BHIM Services Limited. Business Standard reported that the subsidiary was set up with approval from the NPCI board and the Reserve Bank of India. NPCI did not disclose investment outlay, revenue targets, a customer pipeline or rollout timelines, Inc42 noted.

Vishal Kanvaty, NPCI's chief technology officer and a nearly decade long NPCI veteran, has been named managing director and chief executive of NTSL. He joined in 2017, led market innovation before becoming CTO in April 2023, and NPCI said he led development and commercialisation of several platforms that now sit in NTSL's remit. Dilip Asbe, NPCI's MD and CEO, said advances in AI and other emerging technologies are opening new possibilities across digital infrastructure and financial services, and that NTSL was created to pursue them.

The move follows NPCI's Global Fintech Fest launches of AiNxt, an enterprise agent platform, and AtOM for UPI partner onboarding and change management, which Inc42 links to the same technology push, along with a multi year AI and blockchain research tie up with IISc announced in 2024. NTSL does not change who runs UPI day to day; it creates a separate company to productise adjacent tech and DPI services that sat beside the payments mandate.