From August 1, new rules related to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) will come into effect. These changes will impact users, banks, and merchants alike. If you frequently check your bank balance or transaction status via UPI apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, or Paytm, you may need to adjust your habits.
Here’s a detailed Q\&A to understand what’s changing and how it affects you:
Q1. What are the major changes in UPI from August 1?
* Balance Check Limit: You will only be able to check your bank balance up to 50 times a day per UPI app.
* Auto-Pay Timing Change: Auto-pay transactions like EMIs, subscriptions, or bill payments will now be processed in fixed time slots instead of randomly during the day.
* Transaction Status Checks Limited: If a payment is stuck, you can check its status only three times, with a 90-second gap between each attempt.
Q2. Why are these changes being introduced?
The NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) says repeated balance/status checks during peak hours (10 am–1 pm and 5 pm–9:30 pm) overload the system. Two major outages in March and April 2025 affected crores of users. These steps aim to improve UPI’s reliability and speed.
Q3. What are the fixed time slots for auto-pay?
Auto-pay transactions will now be processed during non-peak hours:
* Before 10 am
* Between 1 pm to 5 pm
* After 9:30 pm
Q4. Will these changes apply to all UPI users?
Yes, the rules apply universally, regardless of which UPI app you use.
Q5. Will this affect regular users?
Most users won’t notice major changes. Daily payments, transfers, and bill payments will continue normally. Only those who frequently check balances or transaction status might face restrictions.
Q6. Is there any change in UPI transaction limits?
No. The transaction limits remain the same: ₹1 lakh per transaction, and up to ₹5 lakh for healthcare or education-related payments.
Q7. Do users need to do anything?
No action is required. The updates will be applied automatically. Just be mindful of the new limits to avoid inconvenience.