GFF 2026: Fintech-AI Partnerships Take The Centre Stage

What happened

Traditional banks and NBFCs joined hands with new-age tech AI firms and fintech startups, while fintech companies continued to showcase new products Sarvam and Mahindra Finance scaled up their partnership, while Gnani AI expanded its Artha platform for the BFSI industry After a plethora of new product launches and innovation showcases on day one, the second day of the Global Fintech Festival (GFF) 2026 centred more around partnerships with AI at the heart of a lot of developments to come out of the event.

The deployment aims to diversify Navi UPI’s core infrastructure, while boosting system resilience and transaction capacity to support increasing payment volumes. “Our partnership with IndusInd Bank adds another important layer to our UPI capabilities that we hope strengthens the foundation for a more reliable and seamless UPI experience for our customers,” said Rajiv Naresh, Navi’s MD and CEO.

Bengaluru-based Gnani AI announced the extension of its sovereign AI platform, Gnani Artha, to banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) enterprises to help them build and deploy AI-powered workflows. The platform offers over 200 pre-built workflows designed to automate complex operational tasks, including payment reconciliation, document-driven underwriting, loan processing, and risk management.

Powered by Gnani’s proprietary Evon language models and Plexus agentic AI layer, Artha enables multi-agent execution across enterprise systems while maintaining data sovereignty through private cloud or on-premise deployment options.

For example, Artha-powered loan application workflows can ingest multiple documents like bank statements, GST filings, identity documents, and Account Aggregator data, cross-validate the information, find inconsistencies, and then take a call on whether to approve, decline or refer the application basis predefined thresholds. The listed fintech company has expanded its FX Retail offering from one to six currencies, adding AED, CAD, GBP, EUR and CHF to its existing USD service.

Why it matters

Traditional banks and NBFCs joined hands with new-age tech AI firms and fintech startups to upgrade their tech as well as launch new features and capabilities. Beyond partnerships, fintech companies continued to showcase their new products today. Leading NBFC Mahindra Finance expanded its partnership with AI unicorn Sarvam with a focus on voice AI.

Sarvam’s platform will now be integrated into Mahindra Finance’s sales, collections, and frontline employee engagement operations across rural and semi-urban markets. Mahindra’s dedicated AI division has developed voice agents powered by Sarvam models operating across 12 Indian languages. The system automates pre-due reminders, debt collection lifecycle workflows, and cross-selling for vehicle, SME, and housing loans.

All interactions feed into custom AI pipelines integrated directly within the NBFC’s customer relationship management (CRM) and loan servicing platforms. The NBFC major termed the outcome of the partnership as “one of the largest voice AI deployments in Indian financial services”. It claimed the agents have executed over 1 Cr customer calls to date.

Yes Bank and fintech unicorn Open have teamed up to launch i-Mandate, an agentic AI layer designed to prevent recurring payment failures before transactions occur. i-Mandate combines predictive analytics and autonomous execution, shifting recurring collections from a passive setup to a dynamic model. The use cases for the platform include loan repayments, mutual fund SIPs, and enterprise subscriptions.

It leverages historical account patterns and payment signals through a feature called Smart Protect to identify upcoming debit risks, and engages borrowers to execute authorised corrective actions like rescheduling the payment date, switching bank accounts, or using an alternate payment method. The platform deploys an AI agent across voice and WhatsApp in 22 languages, and is integrated with Open’s AI lending layer Arc.

It aims to provide organisations with real-time visibility into expected collection volumes and cash-flow positions before debits are presented. Sachin Bansal-led Navi partnered with IndusInd Bank to enhance the latter’s tech stack by powering its UPI payments. The partnership introduces a new UPI payment switch designed to route and process transactions across the ecosystem.

What to watch

The offering now allows users to book foreign currency, top up forex cards and remit funds overseas via the MobiKwik app. It offers live bank-linked pricing and same-day fulfilment, subject to regulatory requirements. The service is powered by NPCI Bharat BillPay Ltd (NBBL), in collaboration with the Clearing Corporation of India (CCIL), and is available through the Bharat Connect ecosystem. 19 Cr in the first four months of FY27.

The service is currently available to resident individuals, with transaction limits of up to $3,000 equivalent for currency notes and $10,000 for forex card and remittance services. Cross-border payments startup Xflow partnered with HSBC to enable international companies to accept online and recurring payments from Indian buyers without establishing a local legal entity. The infrastructure leverages India’s domestic payment rails to convert cross-border transactions into local checkouts. Through the platform, overseas merchants can collect payments from Indian buyers through UPI, net banking, and cards.