Key Details
In his address Trusted Innovation: Shaping the Future of Finance, RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu linked the growing scale of digital finance with new responsibilities for payment resilience, customer protection and technology governance.
Quantum readiness: Indian payment-system providers and network operators were urged to begin moving towards quantum-proof systems.
Institutional work: The RBI has constituted an expert committee on a Quantum Secure and Adaptive Financial Ecosystem, or Q-SAFE.
AI governance: Financial institutions remain responsible for decisions influenced by algorithms; boards and senior management must understand the models they deploy.
Fraud prevention: The RBI is developing a Digital Payments Intelligence Platform through the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub. Its MuleHunter.AI system is already being used to identify suspected mule accounts.
Payment scale: UPI processed approximately 24,162 crore transactions worth ₹314 lakh crore in FY 2025-26, accounting for around 85% of India’s digital payments by volume.
Policy status: The address communicates regulatory direction. It does not establish a binding quantum-security standard, migration timetable or new compliance obligation.
Payment Scale Has Made Resilience a System-Wide Issue
India’s digital financial infrastructure now supports everyday economic activity at national scale. More than 59 crore Jan Dhan accounts had been opened by August 2026, while the RBI’s Financial Inclusion Index rose from 67.0 in March 2025 to 70.0 in March 2026, mainly because of higher usage.
With UPI operating at such scale, disruption at one institution can affect commerce far beyond individual transactions. The RBI therefore places redundancy, business continuity, incident recovery and customer communicationalongside transaction growth as measures of payment-system performance.
Fraud is similarly treated as an ecosystem risk involving banks, payment operators, fintech firms, telecom providers and law enforcement. RBI is examining responses to its discussion paper on digital-payment fraud, including scams in which customers are manipulated into authorising transfers.
Institutions Remain Accountable for AI Decisions
AI is already used in credit assessment, fraud detection, customer service and compliance. The rise of agentic AI, which can plan and execute tasks with limited human intervention, raises sharper questions about responsibility and explainability.
The regulatory principle is clear: accountability cannot be transferred to an algorithm. Regulated institutions, their boards and senior management remain responsible for the models they deploy and their effects on customers.
The RBI’s FREE-AI Committee is examining algorithmic bias, explainability and data privacy, while forthcoming guidance on model risk and data governance is expected to strengthen this framework.
Quantum Readiness Must Begin Before the Threat Arrives
Future quantum computers could weaken encryption used to protect payment instructions, credentials and financial data. Although the threat is not immediate, replacing embedded cryptographic systems across financial infrastructure could take years.
The speech also highlights the “harvest now, decrypt later” risk, where encrypted data stolen today may become readable once sufficiently powerful quantum computers emerge.
BIS-led Project Leap demonstrated the use of post-quantum cryptography in a liquidity-transfer system, showing that migration is technically feasible but requires coordinated changes across interconnected systems.
The RBI’s Q-SAFE expert committee is examining the implications for finance. The immediate policy signal is preparedness: payment providers and network operators should begin assessing migration needs even though no standards or deadlines have yet been prescribed.
Inclusion Is Part of Payment-System Reliability
Digital finance can still exclude people with weak connectivity, low digital literacy, disabilities, language barriers or no smartphone.
The RBI points to UPI123Pay, offline payments and the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System as alternative access channels.
As digital payments become essential infrastructure, resilience must therefore include not only technical uptime but also accessible interfaces, local-language support, multiple payment modes and effective assisted services for users who cannot rely on standard smartphone-based channels.
What Is Quantum-Proofing?
Quantum-proofing is the process of preparing digital systems for a future in which quantum computers may be able to break some encryption methods currently used to secure data and transactions.
For payment systems, this involves identifying where vulnerable cryptography is used, testing quantum-resistant alternatives and coordinating migration across banks, payment networks, fintech companies and technology providers. It does not mean that today’s encryption has already been broken; it recognises that replacing cryptographic systems across critical infrastructure can require several years.
Policy Relevance
UPI’s scale makes quantum readiness and operational resilience matters of financial-system continuity, not simply technology upgrades.
A coordinated migration path will be needed: Banks, payment operators and technology vendors share interconnected infrastructure. Common standards, testing arrangements and sequencing will be necessary to avoid incompatible or uneven transitions.
AI accountability must extend to customer outcomes: Model governance will need to cover explainability, bias, data quality and redress where automated decisions affect credit access or block legitimate transactions.
Preparedness needs measurable evidence: Cryptographic inventories, migration readiness, recovery performance, fraud losses and grievance-resolution times would provide a stronger basis for assessing institutional resilience.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What standards, sequencing and accountability framework should govern the financial sector’s transition to quantum-resistant security without disrupting the speed and interoperability of India’s payment systems?
Follow the Full Address Here: Trusted Innovation: Shaping the Future of Finance