Mastercard Launches AI Agent Pay Framework in New Zealand and India

Mastercard has expanded its Agent Pay framework across the Asia Pacific region, successfully completing the first fully authenticated AI agent-led payments in New Zealand and India. In New Zealand, AI agents powered by Maincode's Matilda model performed transactions for cinema tickets and hotel accommodations using Westpac-issued cards. These tests, secured via PassKeys and managed through IPSI, currently require manual authorization, though the company plans to introduce fully autonomous options with price ceilings and will extend its zero-liability promise to these transactions.

Following the New Zealand pilot, the company demonstrated India's first authenticated agentic commerce transactions at the AI-India Impact Summit in New Delhi. Unlike simple chatbots, this system automates the entire consumer journey—searching, comparing, and paying—on a user's behalf. These Indian demonstrations utilized cards from Axis Bank and RBL Bank, processed through aggregators like Cashfree Payments and Razorpay for merchants including Swiggy and Instamart.

Mastercard executives describe this shift as a transition from fragmented app-based interactions to seamless conversational commerce. While promoting India as a tier-I leader in AI innovation, the company noted that the rise in digital interactions will likely increase fraud attempts, necessitating the continued use of tokenization and advanced security infrastructure to protect users.