OpenAI partners with Pine Labs to embed AI in India's payment systems

OpenAI integrates with Pine Labs infrastructure

OpenAI is partnering with Indian fintech firm Pine Labs to embed its AI models into the company’s payment and commerce systems. The deal allows Pine Labs to use OpenAI’s application programming interfaces (APIs) to automate complex financial tasks like settlement, reconciliation, and invoicing.

The partnership marks a shift for OpenAI as it attempts to move beyond consumer tools like ChatGPT and into core enterprise infrastructure. The San Francisco-based company is targeting India’s massive developer base and its one billion internet users to drive adoption of its reasoning models. Earlier this week, OpenAI also signed deals with several Indian medical and engineering institutions to integrate AI into higher education.

Pine Labs provides the backend technology for nearly one million merchants across 20 countries. By plugging OpenAI into its stack, the company aims to turn standard payment processing into an automated commerce platform. This move follows a similar collaboration between OpenAI and Stripe in the United States.

Automating the back office with AI

Pine Labs already uses AI internally to handle the daily movement of funds between banks and merchants. Chief executive B Amrish Rau says the technology cut the time required for daily settlements from several hours to just a few minutes. The company previously relied on dozens of employees to perform manual checks before markets opened each day.

The new partnership will extend these efficiencies to Pine Labs’ corporate clients and merchants. The initial rollout focuses on business-to-business (B2B) workflows where AI agents can manage repetitive tasks under strict rules. These agents will handle "payments orchestration," which involves directing transactions through the most efficient banking routes.

Rau believes the biggest immediate impact of AI in fintech is operational efficiency rather than consumer-facing features. B2B invoicing and reconciliation are often bogged down by manual data entry and human error. Pine Labs expects the following improvements for its merchants:

• Automated invoice matching to reduce payment delays
• Real-time reconciliation across multiple banking partners
• Smart routing for high-volume transaction processing
• Automated tax compliance and reporting for cross-border trade

Global rollout faces regulatory hurdles

Pine Labs plans to deploy fully autonomous payment agents faster in international markets than in its home country. Regulations in the Middle East and Southeast Asia currently allow for more flexible agent-led transactions. The company is already prototyping these systems in those regions to see how AI can initiate payments without manual triggers.

India’s regulatory environment requires tighter controls on how payments are authorized and cleared. Consequently, the Indian market will likely see "AI-assisted" commerce rather than fully autonomous agents in the short term. This approach keeps a human in the loop for final authorization while AI handles the data processing and logic.

The fintech firm operates in several major markets outside of India, including:

• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Australia
• United Arab Emirates
• United States

By leveraging OpenAI’s global infrastructure, Pine Labs can scale these automated workflows across different legal jurisdictions. The goal is to increase "merchant stickiness" by offering tools that go beyond simple card swiping and digital payments.

The scale of Pine Labs operations

Pine Labs maintains a massive footprint in the digital payments space, making it a high-value partner for OpenAI’s enterprise ambitions. According to its latest prospectus, the company has processed over 6 billion cumulative transactions. These transactions carry a total value of approximately ₹11.4 trillion ($126 billion).

The company’s network includes more than 980,000 merchants and 716 consumer brands. It also maintains partnerships with 177 financial institutions. This scale provides OpenAI with a massive stream of real-world financial data to refine its reasoning models for the fintech sector.

Pine Labs is not the only company experimenting with these tools in India. Its subsidiary, Setu, has previously tested agent-led bill payments using models from both OpenAI and Anthropic. The Indian government has also begun piloting consumer payment systems that work directly through AI chatbots.

Business terms and security protocols

The agreement between the two companies is non-exclusive, allowing Pine Labs to work with other AI providers in the future. Rau confirmed that there is no revenue-sharing agreement tied to the partnership. Pine Labs will not take a commission if its merchants choose to use OpenAI’s specific tools within the platform.

Revenue from payment services will stay with Pine Labs, while any direct revenue from OpenAI’s toolsets will go to the AI firm. This structure mimics the independent ecosystem model OpenAI uses with other major enterprise partners. It allows both companies to scale their respective services without complex financial entanglements.

Security remains a primary concern as AI moves deeper into regulated financial workflows. Pine Labs is building custom compliance layers to protect sensitive merchant and consumer transaction data. These layers ensure that while AI models process the logic of a payment, the actual financial data remains within secure, encrypted environments.

The partnership announcement coincided with the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. At the event, global tech giants including Google and Anthropic joined OpenAI to showcase applications for the Indian market. The focus of the summit centered on large-scale deployment in healthcare, education, and finance, signaling a move toward applied AI over theoretical research.