Why in news?
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) issued new operational guidelines for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) effective 1 August 2025. The rules aim to reduce transaction delays, curb misuse and manage system load during peak periods across popular apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.
What is UPI?
UPI is India’s flagship real‑time digital payment platform that enables peer‑to‑peer and peer‑to‑merchant transfers using simple mobile applications. Since its launch in 2016, UPI has revolutionised retail payments and now handles billions of transactions each month.
Key changes in the rules
- Balance enquiries: Users may check their account balance up to 50 times per day per app; frequent checks during peak hours are discouraged to reduce congestion.
- Auto‑pay timing: Automatic debit mandates will be processed only during off‑peak hours—before 10 a.m., between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., or after 9.30 p.m.—to spread out server load.
- Transaction status checks: Each transaction is limited to three status queries, with a minimum 90‑second gap between checks, to prevent excessive pings to the system.
- Linked‑account enquiries: The number of times a user can view linked account details is capped at 25 per day per app.
- Beneficiary name preview: The registered name of the payee’s bank will be displayed before final confirmation, helping users avoid errors and fraud.
Reason and significance
With UPI volumes surging—especially during festivals and sales—servers occasionally experience slowdowns. By encouraging users to perform non‑critical activities like balance checks and auto‑debits outside busy hours, the NPCI hopes to smooth traffic, prevent time‑outs and safeguard the system’s integrity. The new rules also improve security by limiting repetitive requests and ensuring that senders verify the beneficiary’s name before transferring funds.