New UPI Rules From August 1: Daily Limit For Balance Checks, Scheduled Payments And More

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will introduce a number of new rules for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) from August 1, 2025. The changes are aimed at improving system performance, speeding up response times and ensuring better regulation of digital payments.

The changes will impact both users and apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm. They are meant to help banks and apps manage the growing number of UPI payments smoothly.

In a circular dated April 26, 2025, NPCI announced changes to tackle system strain caused by excessive "Check Transaction Status" API calls from PSP banks. The move aims to ensure smoother UPI operations amid rising digital transaction volumes.

Another communication dated May 21, 2025, instructed PSP and acquiring banks to actively monitor and control the volume and speed of API requests sent to the UPI system. This was to ensure they are used appropriately, whether triggered by customers or the PSP systems.

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• Account balance checks: Each UPI app will now allow users to check their account balance a maximum of 50 times per day. This restriction applies per app, meaning users can still check balances across multiple apps separately.

• Auto-pay transactions outside peak hours: Scheduled auto-pay payments will only be processed during fixed time windows, before 10 am, between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., and after 9:30 p.m.

• Faster updates for transactions: UPI apps must show the final status of failed or successful payments within seconds, ending long wait times and reducing transaction uncertainty.

• Transaction status enquiry: Users will be able to verify the status of a pending transaction only three times, the first after 90 seconds, followed by two additional attempts at 45–60 second intervals.

• Restrictions on viewing linked bank accounts: The number of times a user can view their list of linked bank accounts is now limited to 25 times per day.

• Payment reversal requests capped: Users can raise up to 10 payment reversal requests in a 30-day period, with a maximum of five per sender.

• Transparency in recipient details: To help curb errors and fraud, the recipient’s registered bank name will now be shown before a transaction is completed.

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NPCI has also warned banks and UPI apps that any excessive or inappropriate use of system APIs, either by customers or app backends, will be closely monitored. Violations could lead to penalties or even restricted access to the UPI platform.