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Tag: National Payment Corporation of India

  • NPCI Blames Partner Bank Glitches for UPI Outage Affecting Millions

    The widespread UPI outage on 7 August was attributed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to internal technical issue at a “few” partner banks.

    The payments organisation stated that the problem has been resolved and that the NPCI systems were “functioning perfectly” in a post on X. We apologise for any difficulty caused by the sporadic UPI connectivity issues, as a few banks had internal technical challenges. The post stated, “NPCI systems have been operating smoothly, and we have collaborated with these banks to guarantee prompt resolution.”

    Widespread Impact on Digital Payments Across India

    This comes after a significant UPI that affected digital payments nationwide and prevented users from accessing fast payments. Nearly 200 customers reported issues with the payments interface during the height of the disruption, with 61% of users reporting trouble completing payments, according to outage tracking tool DownDetector.

    UPI Faced Four Major Outages in 2025

    This year, there have been four significant UPI outages. Two such events occurred in April after the first significant disruption to the payments rails occurred in March. Major digital payments company PhonePe also went offline in May, citing a lack of network bandwidth.

    NPCI and Government Urge Resilience in UPI Infrastructure

    According to reports, in April, NPCI officials met with representatives of major banks and UPI apps to discuss the outages, which had increased. Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister, even stepped in and told the NPCI to “reinforce” UPI’s resilience and stop any more disruptions.

    To expedite UPI transactions, the payments organisation established a new set of guidelines for acquiring banks and payment service providers (PSPs) in May. The huge volume of “check transaction status” APIs used by PSP banks at extremely high transactions per second (TPS) and other problems were brought to the attention of NPCI.

    July 2025 UPI Stats: 19.47 Billion Transactions Hit All-Time High

    Transactions over the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) increased 5.8% to reach a new all-time high of 19.47 billion in July. Year-over-year (YoY), the number of transactions increased by 35%. The number of transactions decreased to 18.40 billion in June.

    UPI transactions in July were INR 25.08 Lakh Cr, up 4.3% from INR 24.04 Lakh Cr in the previous month, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India. Prior to this, the amount of UPI transactions reached an all-time high of 18.68 billion transactions in May.

    Compared to 613 million in June, the average daily transaction count increased to 682 million in the reviewed month. In addition, the average daily transaction value in July was INR 80,919 Cr.

  • UPI Rule Changes from August 1: Daily Limits, Auto-Debit & API Restrictions Explained

    Members of the UPI ecosystem must abide by a new set of rules established by NPCI, which include restricting balance inquiry queries and controlling the use of APIs such as Autopay Mandate Execution and Validate Address.

    To enhance the functionality of UPI transactions, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has made a number of modifications to the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) ecosystem.

    Members of the UPI ecosystem must abide by a new set of rules established by NPCI, which include restricting balance inquiry queries and controlling the use of APIs such as Autopay Mandate Execution and Validate Address. The specifics of the significant changes that UPI users will encounter starting on August 1 are covered in this article.

    New Balance Inquiry Limits for UPI Users

    Through a particular bank in the UPI app, customers can examine the list of bank accounts connected to their mobile number thanks to the List Account API. The usage is restricted to 25 requests per customer per app per day (on a rolling 24-hour basis) in accordance with NPCI norms.

    Only when the user has chosen their bank in the UPI app should these requests be made. Retries must only be made with the customer’s permission if the account list does not load in order to prevent needless system load. One first attempt and a maximum of three retries per mandate (designated by each sequence number) are the limits specified by NPCI.

    Restrictions on Autopay and Retry Attempts

    This implies that a single mandate may be carried out up to four times. All autopay executions should be planned during off-peak times exclusively in order to further alleviate congestion. As NPCI implements new API guidelines to avoid downtime, certain UPI transactions will be subject to limitations starting on August 1.

    Peak hours, which are recorded between 10:00 and 13:00 and between 17:00 and 21:30, are the times of day when UPI financial transactions achieve their peak transaction volume per second.

    What NPCI Expects from PSPs?

    The NPCI has directed Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to implement the relevant changes in their system by July 31, 2025. Failure to comply may lead to actions such as restrictions on UPI API access, penalties, suspension of new customer onboarding, or other appropriate measures.

    The NPCI press release on May 21, 2025, stated that members are requested to take note of this compliance requirement and communicate it to relevant stakeholders and their respective partners for implementation by 31 ‘July 2025.

    In the event of non-compliance with the above guidelines, NPCI may take necessary action, including UPI API restrictions, penalties, suspension of new customer onboarding, or any other measures deemed appropriate.

  • The NPCI Approves Phi Commerce’s UPI Switch

    The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has certified Phi Commerce, a fintech digital payment company, to provide UPI Switch to its business clients, mainly to maintain high transaction volumes. 

    Phi Commerce will be able to onboard enterprise customers more quickly thanks to UPI Switch, which will cut down on the turnaround time that comes with the current bank-driven approach for onboarding new clients. This will help their business clients to launch goods and services more quickly than they could in the past by allowing them to provide a wide variety of payment alternatives to their clients virtually instantly. 

    It will Help NPCI to Achieve its Goal

    UPI Switch is a vital tool that will assist NPCI in reaching its ambitious goal of one billion transactions per day within the next three to five years, according to Rajesh Londhe, co-founder and head of payments at Phi Commerce. By distributing traffic over several servers, UPI switches shorten processing times and avoid system overloads.

    By distributing the load among several servers, UPI Switch assists during periods of high demand when individuals scramble to make payments. It’s similar to adding more checkout lanes to a grocery store during peak hours to speed up traffic. Londhe continued, “In this manner, users experience speedy, effective transactions without delay.”

    Offering Enterprises Omnichannel Payment Solutions

    Businesses may use Phi Commerce’s omnichannel payment solutions to make payments easy and flexible from any consumer touchpoint, including browsers, smartphones, in-store, and remote. Phi Commerce, a Reserve Bank of India-licensed payment aggregator payment gateway (PAPG), provides a single omnichannel digital payment platform that meets the needs of businesses globally in terms of both B2B and B2C payments.

    The UPI Switch feature facilitates simple integration and provides risk management tools, on-premises or cloud-based architecture, and round-the-clock maintenance and support for dependability and uptime.

    Unified Payment Stack Solution

    UPI Switch is a unified payment stack solution that supports all other services that the NPCI has rolled out so far, including credit card linkages, recurring requirements, UPI Auto Pay, and quick refunds. As processing time decreases significantly, this add-on solution will also assist corporate clients in lowering their operating expenses while enhancing overall productivity and customer satisfaction. 

     In addition to controlling traffic, this function uses real-time fraud monitoring algorithms to keep an eye out for any odd or suspicious transactions. 

    With reaction times of less than a second, UPI switches manage billions of transactions. Additionally, it facilitates API-based interfaces, which allow for communication with a range of fintech platforms and financial institutions.

    What is NCPI?

    In order to establish a strong Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) launched the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an umbrella organisation for running retail payments and settlement systems in India, in accordance with the terms of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

    Given the usefulness of its goals, NPCI was established as a “Not for Profit” company in accordance with Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956 (now Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013). Its goal is to supply infrastructure for both electronic and physical payment and settlement systems for the whole Indian banking system. In order to increase operational efficiency and expand the reach of payment systems, the company is committed to implementing technological advancements in retail payment systems.

    ICICI Bank Limited, HDFC Bank Limited, Citibank N. A., HSBC, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, and Bank of India are the ten primary promoter banks. In order to integrate additional banks from all industries, the shareholding was expanded to 56 member institutions in 2016. New RBI-regulated organisations, including payment banks, small finance banks, and payment service operators, were introduced in 2020. In accordance with the relevant requirements of the Companies Act of 2013, the shares were distributed in accordance with the issuance of equity shares on a private placement basis.

    RBI to Act Against Banks Failing KYC and Customer Care Standards
    The RBI plans to take action against banks that fail to meet KYC and customer care standards, ensuring better compliance and customer service.
    StartupTalkyNitin Konde