Razorpay taps Claude to build AI payment agents

Razorpay, an Indian payments fintech, said it is building AI-powered payment agents using Anthropic’s Claude to automate tasks such as recovering abandoned carts and retrying failed subscriptions.

The company said the agents can also handle disputes and forecast cash flow, and the integration was done through Anthropic’s Claude agent SDK.

Razorpay said it has launched an AI-native agentic experience platform to help businesses create custom agents, integrate payments, and manage payment operations.

The agents can connect to Shopify, Shiprocket, and WhatsApp.

Razorpay said it is testing AI-led in-app commerce with Zomato, Swiggy, PVR INOX, and Vodafone Idea.

🔗 Source: The Economic Times

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Payments drive the pilot’s real leap, beyond AI tools

Razorpay is running a consumer pilot that lets users order from Zomato, Swiggy, and Zepto inside an Anthropic Claude chat 1, 2.
It runs through a formal partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organization that runs India’s retail payments and settlement systems 3.
UPI Reserve Pay powers the flow. It is a feature of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) that lets users set pre-approved, one-time spending limits for a specific merchant 3.
The model uses consent to cut repeat PIN prompts. That setup lets an AI agent place orders on the user’s behalf while keeping payments locked to the approved limit 4.

Two routes are emerging for easier checkout

The pilot treats India’s payment system as programmable infrastructure. That base layer is rare in most global markets, so commerce can sit inside chat 5.
Agent-driven checkout is only one way to reduce friction.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules also allow biometric authentication, such as fingerprints or facial recognition, within two-factor authentication for digital payments. The requirements start on April 1, 2026 6.
These tracks may compete. One hands limited purchasing authority to an AI, while the other keeps approvals with biometrics 6.