GFF 2026: NPCI Unveils Unified Ticketing, Takes RuPay Credit Card On UPI To US, UAE

Adding to the spree of UPI launches at the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) 2026 in Mumbai, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive director Gunveer Singh introduced a comprehensive suite of payment initiatives spanning digital ticketing, mobility payments and ecommerce. 

Key Innovations Unveiled at GFF 2026 Today

Unified Ticketing Platform (UTP)

Developed under NBBL and hosted by NTSL, the Unified Ticketing Platform integrates urban transit systems and cultural heritage sites into a standardised digital framework on Bharat Connect. The broader idea is to disparate ticketing applications, streamline merchant reconciliation and simplify route discovery for commuters and tourists.

It utilises dynamic and static offline-capable QR codes to deliver instant ticketing without network lag.

UTP is currently piloted with Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) for urban mass transit and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Ministry of Culture for landmark and monument entry.

RuPay Credit Card on UPI International

This extends India’s linked-credit UPI ecosystem to international merchant acceptance points. Travelers and overseas shoppers can scan foreign QR codes or pay international ecommerce merchants directly using their preferred UPI app linked to a RuPay credit card.

The initial global corridors where this service would be rolled out would be the France, Mauritius, the UAE, and the US.

It also displays real-time foreign currency amounts, live exchange rates, bank forex markup fees, and the final INR equivalent before the user enters their UPI PIN.

RuPay ON-THE-GO Card-on-Device Tokenisation 

This is a transit payment architecture built for NFC-enabled Android smartphones to cut operational overhead for transit agencies by replacing physical plastic smartcards with instant digital onboarding.

It allows commuters to issue, tokenise, and store transit credentials directly on their mobile device’s secure element and is designed for ultra-low latency environments. It allows passengers to tap-and-go at transit turnstiles even in low-connectivity underground stations. 

RuPay ‘Tap on Phone’ For Ecommerce

The new feature brings physical contact-free card mechanics to online checkout flows. It would allow customers to tap their physical RuPay card against an NFC-enabled smartphone during mobile or web checkouts.

This feature supports payments up to ₹5,000 using standard card PIN authentication, removing dependency on SMS one-time passwords (OTPs) as well as eliminating manual card entry errors, drastically cuts checkout friction, and increases transaction success rates.

RuPay Passkey-Based Biometric Authentication

This new authentication replaces vulnerable legacy OTPs with FIDO-aligned device-native biometric authentication. Now, cardholders could authenticate online purchases, recurring mandates, and high-value transfers using device-native fingerprints or facial recognition (face ID).

It operates across iOS, Android, web browsers, as well as tokenised RuPay merchant gateways.

This adds on the spree of UPI related innovations launched during the GFF 2026, with the NPCI introducing a series of digital infrastructure initiatives to expand credit access across India during the GFF 2026. The UPI operator rolled out AiNxt, an open-source, enterprise-grade agentic AI platform designed to build, test, and deploy custom intelligent agents.

The suite incorporates four core components: AiNxt OS, AiNxt Code (a plugin for integrated development environments or IDEs), AiNxt CLI, and AiNxt Enterprise. These will enable development teams to build, test, and deploy across IDEs and command-line environments.

The Department of Financial Services’ secretary Sanjay Lohiya also unveiled open-source android ATMs to instantly issue RuPay cards and merchant UPI QR code. 

At the GFF 2026 inauguration, PM Narendra Modi highlighted that the next phase of UPI’s growth should focus on connecting the Indian payment system with payment ecosystems of other countries.

The post GFF 2026: NPCI Unveils Unified Ticketing, Takes RuPay Credit Card On UPI To US, UAE appeared first on Inc42 Media.