UPI Becomes Faster: Balance Checks, Transactions in Less Than 15 Seconds; Everything You Need to Know

UPI in India has changed the way we send or receive money today. From auto rickshaw fare to flight tickets, UPI payment is almost everywhere and across all businesses in India. The government now wants to improve this service by making your UPI transactions better and faster. 

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation that looks after retail payments and settlement systems in India, has adopted new guidelines to make UPI transactions like checking your balance, sending or receiving money in 10 to 15 seconds. While these transactions are already fast, they could sometimes take longer due to busy hours. The new guidelines will cut down the transaction time and make it faster. 

The new guidelines may sound small, but they bring significant changes to the UPI transactions in India. The update means that payments and reimbursements are now done in 10 to 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds. The validation of the payee also now takes just 10 seconds. If the money didn't go through, you'll know within 10 seconds, or if the UPI system does not get the request, the transaction is automatically recorded as failed, so it does not stay in limbo. Banks and applications can now check after 45 to 60 seconds instead of 90 seconds.  To keep the servers from getting too busy, banks can only verify the status of the same transaction three times in two hours. 

NPCI has set a limit of 50 balance checks per day per user for the first time.  This is to prevent the system from getting overly busy, especially with bots or apps that ping servers too often.  Most people won't even notice this difference. 

Another major improvement is that UPI apps like PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay can only reveal the actual name of the person you're sending money to.  No more silly aliases or phoney names when you send money.  This is to cut down on fraud and make sure users know who they are paying.

Read More: Yes, WhatsApp Will Show Ads - No, They Won’t Be in Your Chats