Artificial intelligence is rapidly crossing a major threshold—shifting from a passive tool that recommends products and services to an active participant capable of executing financial transactions and making purchases on behalf of consumers. This evolution, known as agentic commerce, promises to redefine the boundaries of retail, consumer convenience, and digital payments.
The Foundation of Trust: Insights from Global Fintech Fest 2026
At the recent Global Fintech Fest 2026, Visa’s Group Country Manager for India & South Asia, Suresh Sethi, addressed the transformative potential—and structural requirements—of this shift. According to Sethi, the future success and widespread adoption of AI-driven commerce hinges entirely on one critical factor: trust.
To ensure that AI-enabled transactions remain secure, transparent, and firmly under consumer control, the digital payments ecosystem must integrate several foundational pillars:
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Trusted Agent Identity & Authentication: Establishing rigorous verification protocols so platforms and merchants can reliably authenticate authorized AI agents acting for human users.
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Tokenisation: Securing sensitive payment credentials by replacing them with unique digital tokens, minimizing data exposure during automated machine-to-machine transactions.
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Biometric Security & Cyber Resilience: Implementing advanced biometric checks and robust cybersecurity frameworks to protect autonomous workflows against fraud and unauthorized actions.
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Visa Intelligent Commerce: Leveraging specialized payment rails and architectures designed specifically to handle the high-speed, automated execution demands of autonomous AI agents.
Shaping India’s Digital Payments Future
As autonomous agents begin managing everything from routine subscription renewals to complex multi-vendor shopping tasks, India stands at the forefront of this digital revolution. Backed by world-class digital public infrastructure (DPI) and innovative payment frameworks, the country’s next chapter in fintech will depend heavily on balancing autonomous AI convenience with uncompromised financial security and consumer oversight.
