NPCI Sets Up Tech Arm NTSL for AI, Blockchain and Digital Infrastructure
The short answer
On 4 November 2026, the National Payments Corporation of India formed NPCI Tech Solutions Limited (NTSL), a wholly owned subsidiary for AI, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure and global capability centre services, and named long-time CTO Vishal Kanvaty as MD and CEO. Business Standard, The Economic Times and Fortune India reported the move, which had NPCI board and Reserve Bank of India approval.
NTSL is not a new UPI app. It is NPCI’s bet that the organisation that built India’s retail payments rails should also productise the technology layer sitting next to those rails.
What NTSL will do
According to NPCI’s announcement as reported by Business Standard, NTSL will build capabilities outside NPCI’s core payments mandate. Focus areas include:
Artificial intelligence
Blockchain
Digital financial infrastructure
Global capability centre (GCC) services
Technology services for eKYC Setu, the Unified Ticketing Platform (UTP) and other digital public infrastructure (DPI) programmes
In plain terms: keep UPI, RuPay, IMPS, NACH, FASTag/NETC, AePS and e-RUPI running under the parent, while a dedicated company ships the adjacent tech products that no longer fit neatly inside a not-for-profit payments utility.
Where NTSL sits in the NPCI group
NTSL is NPCI’s fourth wholly owned subsidiary:
NPCI itself was set up by the RBI and the Indian Banks’ Association as a not-for-profit company. That structure worked for building shared rails. Productising AI platforms and selling GCC-style technology services is a different corporate job — which is why a separate subsidiary with its own MD & CEO makes organisational sense.
Who is Vishal Kanvaty?
Kanvaty has been at NPCI for nearly a decade. He joined in 2017, worked across product and innovation, led the market innovation portfolio, and became chief technology officer in April 2023. NPCI said he led development and commercialisation of several market innovation platforms that now feed into NTSL’s mandate.
Dilip Asbe, MD & CEO of NPCI, said technology has been central to NPCI’s contribution to India’s digital transformation, and that NTSL was set up to focus on AI and other emerging technologies across digital infrastructure and financial services.
Timeline
2017: Vishal Kanvaty joins NPCI.
Apr 2023: Kanvaty becomes NPCI CTO.
Pre-2026: Market innovation platforms commercialised inside NPCI.
4 Nov 2026: NPCI announces NTSL with RBI and board approval; Kanvaty named MD & CEO.
Why it matters for UPI India — and beyond
UPI already processes billions of transactions a month. The next layer of value is less about “another payment app” and more about identity (eKYC), ticketing, fraud and risk models, blockchain settlement experiments, and exportable tech services. NIPL already takes UPI and RuPay abroad. NTSL is the domestic-and-global tech factory that can sit behind those products.
For banks, fintechs and GCC buyers, a dedicated NPCI tech subsidiary is a clearer counterparty than an innovation desk inside a payments utility. For regulators, ring-fencing tech commercialisation inside an RBI-approved subsidiary keeps the not-for-profit rails parent cleaner.
Lessons
Utilities eventually need product companies. Shared rails and commercial AI platforms rarely thrive under one P&L forever.
Promote the builder who already shipped. Naming the sitting CTO as MD & CEO signals continuity, not a celebrity hire.
DPI is becoming a product category. eKYC Setu and Unified Ticketing are named explicitly — India’s public digital stack is no longer only UPI.
Watch how NTSL prices and partners. The strategic question is whether NTSL becomes a platform vendor to banks and states, a GCC for overseas clients, or both.
Frequently asked questions
What is NPCI Tech Solutions Limited?
NTSL is a wholly owned NPCI subsidiary created in November 2026 to focus on AI, blockchain, digital financial infrastructure, GCC services and technology for DPI programmes such as eKYC Setu and UTP.
Who is the CEO of NTSL?
Vishal Kanvaty, previously NPCI’s chief technology officer, is MD and CEO.
Is NTSL replacing UPI?
No. UPI and other payment systems remain with NPCI. NTSL builds adjacent technology capabilities.
Did the RBI approve NTSL?
Yes. Business Standard reported the subsidiary was set up with NPCI board and RBI approval.
How many NPCI subsidiaries exist now?
Four wholly owned subsidiaries: NIPL, NBBL, NBSL and NTSL.
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Sources
Business Standard (4 Nov 2026) NPCI announcement, subsidiary list, Kanvaty biography and Dilip Asbe quote; The Economic Times and Fortune India / Business Today contemporaneous reports. Last updated November 2026.
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