NPCI addresses UPI outage, says ‘system stabilised’ now

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has addressed the UPI outage issue, calling it a “partial decline” caused by technical issues.

Further, it confirmed that the issue has been resolved.

A surge in complaints was recorded on Wednesday evening, with the outage graph showing a sharp spike of over 2,3000 complaints after 7:00 PM.

Digital payment platforms, including GooglePay and PhonePe, faced technical glitches, leaving users in trouble.

UPI’s share of India’s total payment volume increased from 34% in 2019 to 83% by the end of 2024, according to the latest Payments System Report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The total value of UPI transactions grew from Rs 5.86 lakh crore in 2018 to Rs 246.83 lakh crore in 2024, making it the most dominant payment method in India, ahead of credit and debit cards.

The massive outage in the UPI services left millions of users stranded at cash counters, struggling to complete transactions.

As digital payments came to a standstill, users shared their grievances and concerns.

With UPI becoming the backbone of digital transactions in India, such outages emphasise the need for robust backup mechanisms to ensure uninterrupted service.

The NPCI has recently introduced new guidelines for banks and UPI apps to enhance transaction accuracy and user security.

Effective from April 1, these entities must update their mobile number records at least weekly to prevent errors from recycled or changed numbers, ET reported.