Nirmala Sitharaman Holds Emergency Review as UPI Suffers Three Major Outage

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held a comprehensive review meeting on Monday to address the recurrent outages on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. The call to action came after the platform suffered three major disruptions in less than two weeks, with the latest incident taking place on April 12, leading to widespread transaction failures.

Previous Incidents Spark Growing Concern

The UPI network also experienced significant issues on March 26 and April 2, causing nationwide inconvenience to users. These repeated outages have raised concerns about the resilience and scalability of the UPI system, prompting government intervention at the highest level.

Aiming for 1 Billion UPI Transactions Daily in the Next Few Years

In the meeting, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman underlined the ambitious target of scaling UPI to one billion daily transactions within the next 2-3 years. She urged all relevant parties to "collaborate in addressing the existing infrastructure gaps" and improve the robustness of the digital payment system.

Top Officials Present During the Strategy Meeting

The review included participation from senior government and industry figures such as:

• Finance Secretary Ajay Seth

• Financial Services Secretary M. Nagaraju

• NPCI MD & CEO Dilip Asbe

Sitharaman also emphasized the need to onboard more users and merchants, stating that this is vital to expanding the UPI ecosystem.

Enhancing UPI Infrastructure for a Seamless Digital Experience

Focus on Resilience, Real-Time Monitoring, and Scalability

Key discussions centered around strengthening UPI’s infrastructure with better real-time monitoring, resilience against outages, and scalability to handle rising transaction volumes. This is aimed at ensuring uninterrupted service delivery and reinforcing user trust in the system.

Over 45 Crore Annual Users on UPI

As per NPCI data, the UPI platform has seen significant growth, with nearly:

• 26 crore new users

• 5.5 crore new merchants added between 2021-22 and 2024-25, resulting in a base of 45 crore active users annually.

Emerging UPI Players Gain Ground Amid Booming Digital Payments

While Google Pay and PhonePe continue to dominate the UPI ecosystem with a combined market share of 82%, new players are beginning to make their presence felt.

Rise of New UPI Apps Like Super.Money and Cred

Apps such as:

• Super.Money (backed by Flipkart)

• Cred

• Bhim

• Navi

are witnessing strong adoption, fueled by incentives like cashback offers and user-friendly features.

Market Share on the Rise

According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), these newer entrants have grown their collective UPI market share to 4% by March 2025, up from 2.3% in October 2024, and virtually negligible before that.

The Road Ahead: Strengthening India’s Digital Payments Backbone

The Finance Ministry’s review underscores the government's proactive approach to strengthening India’s digital infrastructure. As UPI continues to become an indispensable tool for financial inclusion and cashless transactions, ensuring its uptime, security, and reliability will be key to meeting the country's future fintech goals.

About National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the umbrella organization that operates retail payments and settlement systems in India. Established in 2008 as a "not-for-profit" company under Section 8 of the Companies Act 2013, NPCI was initiated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. Its primary goal is to create a robust, secure, and efficient payment infrastructure in the country, promoting a less-cash economy and enhancing financial inclusion.

Key Objectives of NPCI:

• To provide affordable and robust payment systems for the common person.

• To integrate various payment systems into nationwide uniform and standard business processes.

• To improve operational efficiency and expand the reach of retail payment systems through innovation and technology.

Key Functions of NPCI:

• Design and Development of Payment Systems: NPCI is responsible for creating and operating key payment systems in India, including UPI, IMPS, RuPay, NACH, and BBPS.

• Interbank Settlement: It acts as an intermediary for settling interbank transactions, ensuring the smooth transfer of funds.

• Setting Rules and Guidelines: NPCI prescribes the rules, regulations, and guidelines for the operation of its various payment systems.

• Approving Participants: NPCI approves the participation of banks, Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and Third-Party Application Providers (TPAPs) in its systems.

• Ensuring Security and Efficiency: NPCI is committed to providing a safe, secure, and efficient payment infrastructure.

• Dispute Management: It plays a role in dispute resolution for transactions processed through its systems.

• Promoting Financial Inclusion: NPCI develops payment solutions that cater to the underbanked and unbanked populations.

Major Initiatives by NPCI:

• Unified Payments Interface (UPI): A real-time payment system allowing users to transfer funds instantly between bank accounts using a mobile phone.

• RuPay: India's domestic card scheme, offering debit, credit, and prepaid cards.

• Immediate Payment Service (IMPS): Enables instant fund transfers between banks 24/7.

• Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS): Allows financial transactions using Aadhaar authentication.

• National Automated Clearing House (NACH): Facilitates bulk transactions like salary payments and utility bill collections.

• Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS): An integrated platform for paying various utility bills.

• National Electronic Toll Collection (NETC): Uses FASTags for automatic toll payments.

• BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money): A UPI-based mobile payment application developed by NPCI.

• UPI Lite: An on-device wallet for small-value UPI transactions.

NPCI has been instrumental in revolutionizing the digital payments landscape in India, making transactions faster, more accessible, and secure. Its continuous focus on innovation and financial inclusion has positioned India as a leader in digital payments globally.