Citizen Observation 43 of 777 | Awesome NPCI BHIM Team | No Choice, but to be Back

 Published 15^th September 2026

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru

https://in.linkedin.com/in/prashantnayakanti

 

The Intro – No choice but to be back on NPCI BHIM

Did you notice the difference in the new NPCI BHIM?

 The Trigger

Sometimes, the most interesting citizen observation is not about what is missing.

It is about noticing what has changed.

In June 2026, I came back to NPCI BHIM as my primary UPI app — simply to use it as an everyday citizen and observe where the journey would lead.

The June Blog Post @ https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com/2026/06/i-am-back-npci-bhim-where-my-next-upi-journey-begins.html

Then came July.

The July Blog Post @

https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post.html

 

One very specific observation emerged:

The most-used feature should be the easiest to find.

That observation was about Scan & Pay and its discoverability.

And then came 10 September 2026.

I opened BHIM again.

Something immediately caught my attention.

 

Citizen Observation

Act I — I Was Looking for Scan & Pay

In July, the QR Scan & Pay journey was there.

The large QR button existed.

But for my everyday usage pattern, it did not feel immediately discoverable.

That became the observation.

Not about features.

Not about performance.

Not about cashback.

Not about anything else.

Just one simple citizen question:

Can the most-used payment action be the easiest one to find?

 

Act II — I Am Back

September 10.

BHIM opened.

And this time, the QR Scan & Pay button was visibly larger and more prominent.

That was the only change I wanted to notice.

Everything else on the screen can wait.

The only thing I am looking at here is:

The QR Scan & Pay button.

July → September.

Then → Now.

Something had changed.

 

Act III — Awesome, NPCI BHIM Team

Was this change made because of one citizen's observation?

I don't know.

And I don't need to know.

There could be many reasons behind a product interface changing.

But as a citizen who had written about the discoverability of Scan & Pay in July, opening the app again in September and seeing a more prominent QR Scan & Pay button was worth acknowledging.

So, simply:

Awesome, NPCI BHIM Team.

No demand.

No expectation.

No follow-up.

Just an observation.

 

The Citizen Observation

Sometimes feedback doesn't need a reply.

Sometimes the most interesting reply is simply:

Something changes.

And sometimes, as citizens, we may notice that change only because we were paying attention.

---

Whiteboard

THE QR SCAN & PAY BUTTON IS BIGGER.
I AM BACK.

---

Closing Thought

June:

I am back.

July:

I was looking for Scan & Pay.

September:

I am back again.

The QR Scan & Pay button is bigger.

That's it.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

---

April 11 - Digital Transactions Day

April 11 – UPI Beta Go Live Day

 

Everyday digital payments are often about very small moments.

Open.

Find.

Scan.

Pay.

When the action you need becomes a little easier to find, the journey becomes a little more natural.

Technology helps us stay connected.
Presence helps us stay close.

---

Disclaimer

This is a personal citizen observation based only on comparing the BHIM interface observed in July 2026 with the interface observed on 10 September 2026.

The observation is limited specifically to the increased prominence/size of the QR Scan & Pay button.

It is not a product review, feature comparison, endorsement, criticism, or claim about why the interface changed.

The only Joy is – The Joy of Digital Transactions.

Nothing More - Nothing Less

 

The Joy of Digital Transactions

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)

Author’s Blogs

https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com

Citizen Observation 40 of 777 | UPI Agentic Payments | If a UPI AI Agent Pays, the Payment Record should Tell Me Which Agent Paid?

 Published on 4^th September 2026

 

UPI has made payments easy for humans.

What happens when an AI agent starts making them for us?

If an AI agent pays on our behalf, perhaps the next question is not only whether the payment succeeded, but which agent actually made the payment.

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru

https://in.linkedin.com/in/prashantnayakanti

---

The Trigger

As of now, this observation is based on news reports and publicly available information about the emerging UPI agentic-payments ecosystem.

The precise implementation is still evolving.

The payment could eventually involve:

UPI / UPI Lite / bank account / credit card / PPI / any other instrument in future.

The instrument may change.

But one citizen expectation could remain constant:

If an AI agent pays on my behalf, I should know which AI agent paid.

And if the complete information cannot reasonably fit into the account-statement narration, perhaps it could remain available through the issuing/payment provider's notification, digital banking app, internet banking or transaction history.

The question is simple:

The agent may act for me. Can the record still speak to me?

The Prospective Audience

For a consumer in Bengaluru.

For a shopper in Mumbai.

For a traveller in Delhi.

For a student in Pune.

For a professional in Hyderabad.

For anyone who may one day allow an AI agent to make a payment on their behalf.

The payment may become agentic.
The visibility should remain human.

The new possibility - When the Payment No Longer Needs Me

Act I — I Used to Press Pay

There was a time when making a digital payment meant me being there.

I chose the merchant.
I entered the amount.
I authenticated.
I pressed Pay.

UPI made that journey remarkably simple.

But agentic payments could change one small — yet significant — part of it.

What if I don't have to press Pay anymore?

What if an AI agent, acting within the authority I have given it, makes the payment for me?

 

Act II — Someone Else Is Acting for Me

Perhaps I have an AI agent for shopping.

Another for travel.

Another for subscriptions.

I may not be making every individual payment myself.

The agent is.

And that creates a very human question.

Not:

Did the payment happen?

Not even:

Where did my money go?

But:

Which AI agent acted on my behalf?

If the answer is an AI agent, shouldn't I be able to see which one?

 

Act III — Let the Record Remember

Because days later, I may not remember the payment.

I may only see the transaction.

Today, a payment record can usually tell me where my money went, how much was paid, and when it happened.

With agentic payments, there is one more piece of information that may matter:

Which AI agent made the payment on my behalf?

If that information can fit naturally into the transaction record, perhaps it could be shown there.

If it cannot reasonably fit into the bank or payment statement, the same information could remain accessible through the payment provider's notification, digital banking app, internet banking or transaction history.

For example, I should be able to look at a payment and understand:

AI Agent → Merchant → Amount → Date & Time → Transaction Reference

The exact format may evolve with the architecture.

The principle need not.

I may not have pressed Pay.

But I should still be able to look back and understand which AI agent acted for me.

The agent may act for me.
The subsequent bank account / credit card narration record should tell me which agent acted.

 

Disclaimer

This Citizen Observation is a personal reflection based on publicly available information and emerging developments around UPI agentic payments.

The precise architecture, payment instruments, protocols, safeguards and implementation may evolve.

This is not a technical, regulatory or implementation recommendation.

It is simply a citizen-facing observation on visibility and transparency in agent-initiated payments.

Citizen suggestion only. Implementation, if considered, rests with the relevant institutions and ecosystem participants.

Hopefully, the new UPI Agentic Payments mode  will motivate a large number of UPI users to try it out.

 

Closing Thought

The payment may become increasingly automated.

The decision may become increasingly assisted.

The agent may act within the authority we give it.

But when we look back at the payment, we should not have to wonder what happened.

If a machine acts on my behalf,
the record should still speak to me.

---

A Citizen Observation — Nothing More, Nothing Less

This is not a suggestion on how UPI agentic payments should be architected.

It is not a prescription for a particular payment instrument, protocol or implementation.

It is simply one citizen-facing question:

If an AI agent pays on my behalf, can the payment record tell me which agent paid?

Nothing More.
Nothing Less.

---

April 11 — Digital Transactions Day

Every April 11, Digital Transactions Day is an opportunity to pause and observe how digital transactions are evolving around us.

From human-initiated payments to payments that may increasingly be agent-initiated, the technology may keep changing.

Perhaps the citizen expectation can remain simple:

As payments become more autonomous,
visibility should remain human.

April 11 — Digital Transactions Day
Observe the transaction. Understand the journey.

The Joy of Digital Transactions

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)

Author’s Blogs

https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com

 

Citizen Observation 36 of 777 | UPI Statistics | The Numbers Are Public. Can the Journey Inside the Numbers Be Visible?

 Published on 26^th August 2026

UPI numbers tell us how big the ecosystem has become. Can they also show us how those transactions are travelling?

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru

 

The Starting Point

Dear NPCI Team,

Thank you for making UPI statistics publicly accessible.

The numbers tell a remarkable story of scale.

But while looking at the UPI Product Statistics, I wondered:

Can the numbers also tell us a little more about what is happening inside UPI?

Today, UPI is not just one payment journey.

There are newer journeys such as UPI Lite and UPI LiteX, alongside the wider UPI ecosystem.

Yet the headline UPI numbers primarily tell us the overall volume and value.

That made me pause:

How much of that journey is actually travelling through UPI Lite or UPI LiteX?

Not because the numbers are absent.

Perhaps one more layer of granularity could make the existing numbers more useful.

 

The Prospective Audience

This could matter to:

A researcher in Dharwad.

A journalist in Aizawl.

A student in Tinsukia.

A small merchant in Balasore.

A digital-finance learner in Kottayam.

A shopkeeper in Beed.

A public-policy student in Gangtok.

A family business in Kasaragod.

A citizen following India's digital-payment journey from Port Blair.

And, which part of India are you right now?

Different places.
Different users.
Different payment journeys.

One common interest:

What exactly is happening inside the UPI numbers?

The numbers are already public.

Perhaps the next question is:

Can the composition of those numbers become easier to see too?

 

Act I — Inside the Number

The UPI headline number tells us how much happened.

A little more granularity could help us understand how it happened.

That is the small observation behind CO36.

 

Act II — One Number. More Than One Story.

A headline UPI number can tell us:

How many transactions happened.
What their value was.

That is important.

But imagine seeing a little more:

Total UPI

↳ UPI Lite
↳ UPI LiteX
↳ Other UPI journeys

Not as separate reports.

Not as another dashboard.

Within the existing UPI statistics.

The numbers could then begin answering two different questions:

How big is UPI?

and

How are the different UPI journeys contributing to that number?

 

Act III — A Small Addition to a Big Picture

The request is not for a new measurement framework.

The existing UPI statistics already provide a valuable public window into India's digital-payment journey.

Perhaps one additional layer could make that window clearer:

Total → Journey → Volume → Value

For example, if UPI Lite and UPI LiteX were separately identifiable within the appropriate UPI statistics, a reader could begin to see their relative contribution to the larger UPI picture.

The methodology, definitions, treatment of transactions and reporting format would naturally remain for the relevant institutions to determine.

The observation is simply:

Could the existing UPI numbers show a little more of what is inside them?

That would turn a number of scale into a number that also tells a story.

Act IV — From Scale to Composition

UPI has given India something remarkable:

A public window into the scale of digital payments.

Perhaps the next step is not simply to publish more numbers.

Perhaps it is to make the existing numbers tell a little more of the story.

If the overall UPI statistics could also show the contribution of journeys such as UPI Lite and UPI LiteX, users of the data could begin to see:

How much → Through which journey → At what scale

Not as a judgement.

Not as a comparison.

Simply as greater visibility into an ecosystem that is already transforming how India pays.

---

The First Line on the Whiteboard

The UPI numbers are public. Let the UPI journeys inside those numbers be visible too.

---

A Citizen Observation

Could the existing UPI Product Statistics, within the appropriate methodology, include a UPI Lite and UPI LiteX breakup within the main UPI statistics view?

The intention is not to prescribe the format.

It is simply to ask whether greater granularity could make already-public statistics even more useful.

For a citizen in Chikkamagaluru.

For a researcher in Sivaganga.

For a journalist in Dimapur.

For a student in Alappuzha.

For a merchant in Bundi.

For a policymaker studying digital payments from Leh.

For the wider digital-payment ecosystem.

The numbers tell us how big UPI has become.

Perhaps the composition can also help us understand how UPI is evolving.

---

Closing Thought

From Dharwad to Aizawl.

From Tinsukia to Kasaragod.

From Beed to Port Blair.

Different places.

Different users.

Different journeys.

One public set of numbers.

Perhaps the more we can see inside those numbers, the better we can understand the digital-payment journey that they represent.

More visibility.
More context.
Better understanding.

---

 

April 11 — Digital Transactions Day

A digital ecosystem may begin with a number on a dashboard.

But behind every number are millions of individual journeys.

Count → Break Down → Understand → Learn

Perhaps better digital statistics do not merely tell us how much happened.

They help us understand what is happening inside the number.

The Joy of Digital Transactions.

---

Disclaimer

This Citizen Observation is based on publicly available UPI statistics and information.

It is a citizen observation and does not constitute a request for, or recommendation on, any specific reporting architecture, methodology or regulatory framework.

The suggested UPI Lite and UPI LiteX visibility is illustrative. Definitions, data treatment, methodology and publication format would naturally remain matters for the relevant institutions and domain experts.

 

The Joy of Digital Transactions

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)

Author’s Blogs

https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com

Citizen Observation 35 of 777 | UPI @ 10 | One Decade. One Digital Journey. What Should the Next Decade Look Like?

 Published on 25^th August 2026

UPI has completed ten years. Can we make the next ten years easier to see, one transaction journey at a time?

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru

 

The Starting Point

UPI has completed ten years.

The numbers are extraordinary.

But today, I noticed something much smaller.

I made UPI transactions through two different routes.

One through UPI Lite.

Another directly through my main bank account.

Both were successful.

Both were UPI transactions.

But when I later tried to follow their journeys, I noticed something:

The place where I look changes what I can see.

For the UPI Lite transaction, the detailed transaction journey is available within the respective UPI application.

For the regular UPI transaction, the bank account clearly shows the debit — but the UPI-app journey is not immediately obvious from the bank statement alone.

Nothing has gone wrong.

The money has moved.

The transaction has completed.

Yet the citizen's view of the journey can be distributed across different places.

And that made me wonder:

If UPI is becoming a family of digital transaction journeys, should the citizen's view of those journeys become easier to follow?

The Prospective Audience

This isn't only about someone who regularly studies bank statements.

Think of:

A student in Kohima.

A shopkeeper in Sangli.

A parent in Dibrugarh.

A small merchant in Chitradurga.

A senior citizen in Karaikal.

An Indian traveller in Muscat.

A son in Toronto, helping his parents understand a payment made back home.

Different people.

Different UPI journeys.

One simple expectation:

If I made the payment, I should be able to understand what happened to it.

 

Act I — One Transaction. Multiple Possible Journeys.

UPI has grown beyond one simple way of making a payment.

A citizen may now encounter journeys involving:

Main UPI → UPI Lite → UPI Circle → Credit Line → International → …

The question is not whether these features are useful.

It is:

Can the citizen later understand which journey actually happened?

That question becomes increasingly relevant as the UPI ecosystem grows.

The payment may be seamless.

The citizen's view of the journey should be equally easy to follow.

That is where my small observation begins.

Act II — What Happened Between “Pay” and “Done”?

We often see the beginning.

Scan → Enter Amount → Pay

And we see the end:

Successful.

But between those two points, a digital transaction has travelled through a system.

Perhaps the citizen should be able to understand that journey without becoming a payment-system expert.

Initiated → Processing → Successful → Received → Settled

And when something goes wrong:

Initiated → Interrupted → Reason Visible → Recovery → Resolution

The second journey may matter just as much as the first.

Because when everything works, we rarely ask questions.

It is when something doesn't work that the journey becomes important.

 

Act III — One Transaction. One Visible Trail.

Imagine making a payment today.

Tomorrow, you want to find it.

Perhaps the ideal citizen view could answer, in one place:

What was paid?
When was it paid?
From where?
Through which UPI journey?
To whom?
What was its status?
What happened next?

Not necessarily a new app.

Not necessarily a new statement.

Not necessarily another layer of technology.

Just a clearer transaction trail.

Because the citizen should not have to reconstruct the journey from:

Bank statement + UPI app + notification + merchant confirmation + memory.

 

Act IV — One Citizen Illustration

Perhaps the future transaction view could be as simple as:

Transaction Journey	Citizen View
Amount	₹XXX
Initiated	Date / Time
Journey	UPI / UPI Lite / Other applicable route
From	Account / applicable funding source
To	Person / Merchant
Status	Successful / Pending / Failed
Reference	Transaction reference
Next Step	Completed / Processing / Action required

 

 

 

Illustrative example only.

The fields, architecture, data-sharing arrangements, privacy safeguards and technical standards would naturally remain matters for the relevant institutions and domain experts.

The observation is much smaller:

Can the citizen see the transaction journey without having to assemble it themselves?

Because the next decade of digital payments may not only be about more transactions.

Perhaps it can also be about better visibility of every transaction journey.

One Citizen Thought

Ten years ago, the challenge was to make digital payments possible at scale.

The next decade may present a different opportunity:

Make the UPI transaction journey easier for the user to understand.

Not only when it succeeds.

Especially when it is:

Pending.
Failed.
Reversed.
Refunded.
Disputed.

A user should not need to become a payment-system expert to answer:

“What happened to my money?”

---

The First Line on the Whiteboard

The UPI transaction is digital. Let its journey be visible for the users.

---

A Citizen Observation

Could transaction visibility become one of the considerations for the next decade of digital payments?

Not necessarily through another application.

Not necessarily through a new dashboard.

But through greater consistency in how a user can understand:

What happened → Where it happened → Through which journey → What its current status is → What happens next.

As UPI journeys become more diverse, perhaps the user experience should become simpler, not more fragmented.

The actual architecture, interoperability, privacy safeguards, data availability and standards would naturally remain matters for the relevant institutions and domain experts.

The citizen observation is simply:

If a UPI transaction can travel through multiple journeys, can its story remain easy for the user to follow?

---

 

Closing Thought

A student in Kohima.

A shopkeeper in Sangli.

A parent in Dibrugarh.

An Indian travelling through Muscat.

A family member in Toronto, helping someone back home understand a payment.

Different people.

Different journeys.

One expectation.

When the payment is complete, the journey should not disappear.

And when something goes wrong, the user should not have to become an investigator.

Ten years built the rail.

Perhaps the next ten can make the journey visible.

---

April 11 — Digital Transactions Day

A digital transaction may begin with a simple tap, scan or click.

But the journey behind that transaction can be much longer.

Initiate → Process → Complete → Record → Understand

Perhaps better digital journeys do not merely complete the transaction.

They make the journey easier for the user to understand.

The Joy of Digital Transactions

---

Disclaimer

This Citizen Observation is based on publicly available information concerning the ten-year journey of UPI.

It is a citizen observation and does not constitute a recommendation on payment-system architecture, regulation, technology, interoperability or data-sharing policy.

The transaction-visibility examples and illustrations are conceptual. Actual data availability, system design, privacy safeguards and implementation would remain matters for the relevant institutions and domain experts.

 

The Joy of Digital Transactions

Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)

Author’s Blogs

https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com