A new perk has been introduced for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) users- super-fast transactions are now at your fingertips. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages UPI, has issued new guidelines that came into effect on Monday, aiming to speed up user transactions to just 10–15 seconds. The circular states that this change will be beneficial for banks and service providers like PhonePe and Google Pay.
What Has Changed?
Currently, sending money, verifying transactions, etc., takes 30 seconds or more. Now, 15 seconds will suffice. Transaction reversal, which used to take 30 seconds, will now take 10 seconds. Address verification, which used to take 15 seconds, will now be completed in 10 seconds. This upgrade applies to popular UPI platforms like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and others.
Failed transactions, which are a common concern for users, will also be resolved faster, comparatively. Instead of waiting for up to 30 seconds to check if money was deducted or returned, users will know the outcome within 10 seconds.
Other Important Changes
The NPCI has also announced that several other important changes will soon be implemented in the UPI system. Updates related to balance checks, auto-payments, and more are expected after July. One such change is that users will be allowed to check their account balance through the UPI app only up to 50 times a day.
If a UPI transaction doesn’t reach the system due to network issues, it will now be automatically marked as failed. This change helps users get faster clarity on unsuccessful payments. In addition, banks and apps can now check the status of pending transactions as early as 45 to 60 seconds after they are initiated, compared to the earlier wait time of 90 seconds. To avoid overloading the system, NPCI has also set a limit- each bank or payment app can check the status of a transaction only up to three times within a two-hour window. Retry for auto-payment is only allowed during non-peak hours. Peak hours are the hours when the maximum number of transactions are done per second in a day. Usually, this is from 10 am to 1 pm and from 5 pm to 9:30 pm.
List Account
Another important feature set to be introduced in UPI apps is the ‘List Account’ option. This will allow users to view all bank accounts linked to their mobile number directly through the UPI app. According to NPCI, this feature can be used up to a maximum of 25 times per day.
Can’t Change Name In UPI App
To increase transparency and reduce the chances of errors, NPCI has made it mandatory for UPI apps to display only the actual beneficiary’s name during a transaction. Users will no longer be able to edit the ‘beneficiary name’ field within the app. This change is aimed at preventing fraud and boosting trust in digital payments. All UPI apps and banks are required to implement this rule by June 30.
