The news: India is piloting a program to allow consumers to shop and pay for products directly through AI chatbots using United Payments Interface (UPI), per TechCrunch.

• OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the first chatbot to join the pilot, with integrations for Google Gemini and Anthropic’s Claude to follow shortly.
• For now, users are limited to purchasing groceries through online grocer BigBasket and paying for telecoms services, though more merchants are expected to sign on in the next few months.

Why it matters: India is an ideal testing ground for OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

Adoption of AI chatbots is rising fast. India is the second-largest market for ChatGPT and Claude, the two companies have said.

• As of Q2, ChatGPT had 19.8 million monthly active users (MAUs), a 350% increase YoY, per Sensor Tower data shared with TechCrunch.
• Anthropic plans to open an office in India next year to better serve its growing user base.

Consumers are enthusiastic about AI’s shopping potential. Nearly 4 in 5 urban shoppers (77%) plan to use AI to help navigate Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales this year, according to a YouGov report.

• Roughly 2 in 5 Cyber Five shoppers (39%) say they trust AI to “find and procure” presents for family and friends, a stat that holds steady across generational lines.
• 36% would prefer that AI do all of their holiday shopping for them, with Gen X and Baby Boomers considerably more likely (39%) to say so than Gen Z and millennials (32%).

Our take: The agentic commerce pilot in India could inform companies’ shopping initiatives in the US, though the two markets differ significantly in how consumers use AI.

• According to Anthropic, while US users are more inclined to use Claude for meal planning and travel advice, Indian users’ top queries are squarely focused on software development—which could make it harder to encourage in-app shopping.
• At the same time, the introduction of in-app payment capabilities could boost ecommerce penetration in India, although that will depend on which merchants can be persuaded to join the pilot.

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