India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is gearing up for major enhancements starting June 16, 2025, with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announcing a series of changes to improve transaction speed and system efficiency. These adjustments come as UPI usage continues to surge, and the focus shifts to reducing delays and improving reliability for both users and payment platforms.
Faster Transaction Response Times
In a circular dated April 26, 2025, NPCI revealed plans to halve the response time for multiple UPI-related APIs, which govern everything from payment execution to status checks. The reduced response time is expected to benefit remitter banks, beneficiary banks, and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm.
Here’s a breakdown of the key API upgrades:
These revisions aim to enhance customer experience by improving reliability and reducing failed or delayed payments. NPCI has asked all stakeholders to ensure system-level changes are in place before rollout.
“The adjustments are intended to improve the customer experience. All members must ensure timely implementation, including any required changes at the merchant or partner end,” NPCI stated.
Additional Reforms Coming From August
In a separate circular dated May 21, 2025, NPCI laid out new guidelines on platform usage and API limits, which will be enforced from August 1, 2025. These changes are designed to ensure responsible usage of system resources and prevent transaction overloads, particularly during peak hours.
Here are the highlights:
1. Balance Enquiry Limit
- Users can now make a maximum of 50 balance enquiries per day through UPI apps.
2. List Account Requests
- This function, which allows users to see accounts linked to their mobile number, will be limited to 25 requests per app per day.
3. Autopay Mandate Execution
- Autopay mandates will be processed with 1 primary attempt and up to 3 retries.
- These retries must occur outside peak hours (defined as 10:00 am–1:00 pm and 5:00 pm–9:30 pm).
NPCI has directed all PSP and acquiring banks to monitor transaction volume and TPS (transactions per second) and align with the new thresholds.
“Members are requested to take note of this compliance requirement and communicate it to relevant stakeholders and their respective partners for implementation by 31st July 2025,” the NPCI circular noted.
Why These Changes Matter
UPI has revolutionized digital payments in India by enabling instant money transfers, low transaction costs, and seamless interoperability across platforms. However, as transaction volumes continue to climb—especially during festivals, sale events, and salary days—the system infrastructure needs optimization to handle the load.
The reduced response times and usage limits aim to:
- Minimize failures during peak traffic
- Improve consistency of user experience
- Support faster processing for banks and PSPs
- Prevent system overloads from automated requests
These changes are part of NPCI’s broader efforts to ensure scalability, stability, and fairness across the UPI ecosystem.
In Summary:
From June 16, UPI users can expect faster transactions, and by August 1, new usage caps and system monitoring will be in place. These upgrades reflect a proactive approach by NPCI to maintain UPI’s performance as it evolves into the backbone of India’s digital payments landscape.
