UPI Payments Get New Features, Higher Limits

- The UPI Lite wallet's total balance limit has been increased from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000. This allows users to hold a larger amount for small, frequent transactions without affecting their main bank account balance. - While the per-transaction limit for UPI Lite was raised to ₹500 in August 2023, a more recent RBI amendment effective December 4, 2024, further increased this to ₹1,000. This change accommodates slightly larger daily purchases. - An auto-top-up feature for UPI Lite has been introduced, allowing users to set a minimum balance threshold that, when breached, automatically replenishes the wallet from their linked bank account. - Recent innovations showcased at the Global Fintech Fest 2025 include Aadhaar-based biometric and facial recognition for authenticating UPI transactions, reducing the reliance on PINs. - For peer-to-merchant transactions, the NPCI has directed payment apps to disable the "collect" or "pull" payment feature and move to intent-based flows, like scanning a QR code, to reduce fraud. - A UPI interchange fee of 0.5% to 1.1% now applies to merchant transactions over ₹2,000 when a customer pays using a PPI wallet (like Paytm or PhonePe wallet) via UPI, though standard bank-to-bank UPI payments remain free for users. - To improve system stability, the NPCI has implemented new rules effective August 1, 2025, which include a cap of 50 balance inquiries per app per day and restricting UPI Autopay executions to non-peak hours. - NPCI's international arm is expanding UPI's global footprint, signing an agreement with Malaysia's PayNet to enable QR-based payments between the two countries for travelers.