- UPI transactions in India now process payments within 10 to 15 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
- Failed transactions will be resolved within 10 seconds, improving user experience significantly.
- Users can now check their account balance via UPI apps up to 50 times a day, introducing a new limit.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions across India are now much quicker, thanks to new directives from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that came into effect on Monday.
Users will now see payments, balance checks, and reversals processed within 10 to 15 seconds, a sharp improvement from the earlier 30-second wait. This upgrade applies to popular UPI platforms like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and others.
What Has Changed?
Earlier, sending or receiving money through UPI could take up to 30 seconds. With the new rules, this is cut down to 15 seconds. The time to validate a payee's address has also been trimmed from 15 to 10 seconds.
Failed transactions, a common concern for users, will now be resolved faster. Instead of waiting for up to 30 seconds to check if money was deducted or returned, users will know the outcome within 10 seconds.
If a transaction doesn't reach the UPI system at all due to network issues, it will now be auto-marked as failed.
Apps and banks can now also check the status of pending transactions as early as 45-60 seconds after initiation. Earlier, they had to wait 90 seconds.
To avoid system overload, NPCI has allowed each bank or payment app to check the status of a transaction up to three times, within a two-hour window.
Limit Introduced On Balance Checks
In another key change, users can now check their account balance via UPI apps up to 50 times a day. Previously, there was no limit. The cap is meant to ease network load and keep systems running smoothly, according to experts cited by PTI.
Can't Change Name In UPI App
To improve transparency and reduce errors, NPCI has mandated that UPI apps must show only the actual beneficiary's name during a transaction. Users will no longer be able to edit the 'beneficiary name' field within the app interface. These changes aim to prevent fraud and build confidence in digital transactions. All UPI apps and banks must implement this rule by June 30.
These changes come as UPI continues to grow rapidly. In May alone, 1,868 crore transactions were made via UPI, a 33 per cent increase from last year. The total transaction value stood at Rs 25.14 lakh crore, a 23 per cent rise.
