31 July 2025 : National Payments Corporation of India is set to implement a series of changes in rules related to how UPI apps like Google Pay, PayTM Phone Pay work from August 1.
For customers who use UPI apps multiple times a day, these rules can be significant. It pertains to features like balance checks, autopay requests, payment failures and linked account verifications.
Limit on checking balance
The news rules introduced by NPCI put a limit on the number of times users can check their balance to only 50 times a day for each app. The restriction has been issued to reduce the load during peak hours. Along with this, banks are also required to add a balance to every financial transaction by the user.
Auto payment during fixed hours
Recurring payments and auto transactions on UPI like EMIs, SIP, or OTT subscription will be processed only during fixed hours before 10 am, 1-5 pm and after 9:30 pm. This means if your payment is due at 11 am, it might get deducted earlier or later. This is done to avoid processing the autopay in peak hours, which are 10:00 am to 3:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Moreover, while executing the autopay mandate, there will be retries after which the autopay might not get deducted.
Limited tries to access bank details
From next month, users will only be able to retrieve information linked to their mobile number 25 times a day. Through this, customers can see the list of accounts linked to their mobile. These requests are to be initiated only once the customer has selected the issuer’s bank in the UPI apps.
Quick update of transaction status
During the peak hours, users often face issues related to transactions, like the money being debited and the other side not receiving it. From now on, the UPI app will have to show the actual payment status of a transaction within seconds instead of showing pending or processing. The user will have only 3 chances to check the status with a 90-second wait between the checks.
Recipient name in every transaction
Every time a user sends money via UPI, they will be able to see the registered name of the recipient before making the transaction.
These changes, though not major, are being made to reduce the pressure on UPI apps during the peak hours and to increase the efficiency of online payments so more users adopt it.
Summary:
From August 1, UPI users face limits on balance checks, account views, AutoPay timings, and transaction retries, with enhanced security, performance, and inactive ID deactivation.