Earlier the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) notified that it will start removing UPI IDs associated with inactive mobile numbers starting next month.
This is crucial as this may stop many from making digital transactions.
NPCI Unlinking UPI IDs From Inactive Numbers
In a recent announcement, NPCI said that it would be unlinking UPI IDs associated with inactive mobile numbers starting from April 1.
In simple words, the people who use GPay, PhonePe and UPI apps for mobile payments won’t be able to use their inactive or reassigned mobile number to complete transactions.
In case you are using a mobile number which has been inactive for an extended period then as per the NPCI’s new guidelines, banks may remove it from their account records and suspend UPI services for your account.
NPCI reached this decision because some inactive mobile numbers are causing technical problems in the banking and UPI system.
Besides this, this move will also help in decreasing the risk of fraud.
As it is likely to happen if you are using an UPI enabled account with a mobile number that has been reassigned to someone else.
How Does This Affect?
Consider a case where the user has recently switched to a new mobile number but his bank account is still linked to his old mobile number.
Here, there are chances that the user may face problems.
Please note here that these new guidelines will also affect the users who are still using UPI with their inactive and reassigned mobile numbers.
Or the ones who have surrendered their SIM without updating it in their bank records.
How To Prevent This?
The payment authority suggests users should check their mobile numbers linked to unused bank accounts and activate them as soon as possible as this would prevent them from unlinking.
Besides this, the user should also update your old inactive number and replace it with the current one before the April 1 deadline as this would avoid any service disruption.
