The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has formed NPCI Tech Solutions Limited (NTSL) as a wholly owned subsidiary and named Vishal Kanvaty, its chief technology officer, as managing director and chief executive. NPCI said on November 4 that NTSL will work on artificial intelligence, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure and global capability centre services, outside the group’s core payments mandate.
NTSL is NPCI’s fourth wholly owned subsidiary, after NPCI International Payments Limited, NPCI Bharat BillPay Limited and NPCI BHIM Services Limited. The board and the Reserve Bank of India approved the new company. NTSL will also supply technology services for eKYC Setu, the Unified Ticketing Platform and other digital public infrastructure programmes. Points from the announcement:
- Focus areas: AI, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure and GCC services
- DPI programmes named: eKYC Setu and the Unified Ticketing Platform
- NPCI operates UPI, RuPay, IMPS, NACH, NETC, AePS and e-RUPI
Kanvaty has been at NPCI for nearly a decade. He joined in 2017, led the market innovation portfolio, and became CTO in April 2023. Dilip Asbe, NPCI’s MD and CEO, said NTSL was set up to focus on opportunities that AI and other emerging technologies open across digital infrastructure and financial services.
Why it matters: NPCI already runs the rails for most retail digital payments in India. Putting AI, blockchain and DPI work into a separate company, with RBI sign-off, gives that work its own balance sheet and mandate while the parent stays focused on UPI and the other schemes. How much of NTSL’s output stays inside the NPCI group, and how much is sold as GCC or infrastructure services, will decide whether this is mainly an internal reorganisation or a new commercial line.
Source: NPCI press release, November 4, 2026; Business Standard, November 4, 2026; Reuters via Economic Times, November 4, 2026
Image: Nikhil Kulkarni, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
