In a major regulatory update, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is set to implement significant changes to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platform beginning August 1, 2025. These changes are aimed at improving the reliability, speed, and efficiency of UPI transactions across banks and Payment Service Providers (PSPs), such as PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm.
These new rules, as detailed in National Payments Corporation of India NPCI's official circulars issued on April 26, 2025, and May 21, 2025, are designed to regulate transaction flows, limit excessive API usage, and enhance customer experience.
Users can now check their account balance a maximum of 50 times per day on each UPI app.
If multiple apps are used, the limit applies individually to each app.
Pending transaction status can be checked only three times, with a minimum interval of 90 seconds between checks.
AutoPay mandates will be processed in three specific slots:
Before 10:00 AM
Between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM
After 9:30 PM
UPI users are now allowed to view their linked bank accounts no more than 25 times per day.
Users can initiate up to 10 payment reversal requests within a 30-day period, with a cap of 5 requests permitted from the sender's side.
UPI applications will now show the recipient’s official bank name before a payment is confirmed, aiming to minimize mistakes and enhance fraud prevention.
As part of ensuring performance optimization, NPCI has instructed that:
“PSP banks and/or acquiring banks shall ensure all the API requests (in terms of velocity and TPS - transactions per second limitations) sent to UPI are monitored and moderated in terms of appropriate usage (customer-initiated and PSP system-initiated).”
Furthermore:
"Members are requested to take note of this compliance requirement and communicate it to relevant stakeholders and their respective partners for implementation by 31st July 2025," the circular added.
NPCI will closely monitor API usage patterns, and non-compliant banks or apps may face penalties or temporary restrictions from the UPI platform.
India's progress in digital payment systems has garnered international recognition. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently praised UPI, highlighting India’s leadership in real-time payment innovation.
As per the IMF’s fintech note:
“India now makes faster payments than any other country. At the same time, proxies for cash usage have fallen.”
It further added:
“Since its launch in 2016, UPI has grown quickly, while some proxies for cash usage have begun to decline. UPI now processes more than 18 billion transactions per month and dominates other electronic retail payments in India.”
This international endorsement underscores UPI’s critical role in transforming financial inclusion, reducing cash dependency, and enabling seamless digital transactions across urban and rural India.
The latest changes coming into effect from August 1, 2025, reflect NPCI’s commitment to optimizing UPI's performance and ensuring a secure and scalable ecosystem for millions of users and financial institutions. While these new limits may seem restrictive at first glance, they are intended to enhance reliability, curb misuse, and safeguard the infrastructure from unnecessary load.
India’s leadership in real-time digital payments is now globally recognized, and these steps are crucial in keeping the system resilient and forward-looking.