New UPI Rules and Higher Limits Analyzed
India's National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is set to roll out new UPI rules effective August 1, 2025. Multiple financial news outlets are explaining the changes, which focus on compliance for major payment platforms. The updates also include the introduction of higher transaction limits for high-value purchases, which could impact user behavior for larger basket sizes.
- The per-transaction limit for specific categories, including payments for healthcare, education, insurance premiums, and capital markets, will be raised to ₹5 lakh. For regular peer-to-peer and merchant transactions, the limit will remain at ₹1 lakh. - For certain high-value categories like insurance and capital markets, the total cumulative transaction limit within a 24-hour period has been increased to ₹10 lakh. - To improve system stability, UPI Autopay mandates for recurring payments will now be processed only during designated non-peak hours (e.g., before 10:00 AM, between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM, and after 9:30 PM). These mandates are also now limited to one initial attempt plus a maximum of three retries. - To reduce server load from background API calls, users are now capped at 50 balance inquiries and 25 requests to view linked bank accounts per UPI app, per day. - A new fraud prevention measure involves the automatic deactivation of any UPI ID that is linked to a mobile number that has been inactive for over 12 months. - The increased adoption of UPI by small merchants has led tax authorities to utilize digital transaction data to identify and issue GST notices to vendors whose gross receipts suggest they may have crossed the turnover threshold for GST registration. - After a user completes a successful transaction, UPI apps are now required to automatically display the updated bank account balance, providing immediate confirmation and reducing the need for a manual balance check.
