UPI outage disrupts digital transactions

Digital transactions were impacted on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) due to a widespread UPI outage with a large number of users reporting problems in the instant payment interface.

The outage triggered a surge in complaints on Downdetector, a platform that monitors service disruptions based on user reports.

The system faced temporary issue for about an hour or so and it was subsequently stabilised by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

"NPCI had faced intermittent technical issues owing to which UPI had partial decline. The same has been addressed now and the system has stabilised. Regret the inconvenience," the payment regulator said in a post on X.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant payment system developed and managed by the NPCI, an RBI-regulated entity.

UPI is built over the IMPS infrastructure and allows instant transfer of money between any two bank accounts.

Also read | UPI payments hit due to glitch in some banks’ systems

UPI provides a transfer facility without any user charge. Users can transfer any amount of money at any time without incurring additional fees from NPCI.

It is also widely used for small payments at local shops, as there is no minimum transaction limit. Additionally, UPI offers a convenient AutoPay feature, which allows users to set up recurring payments for bills and subscriptions, making transactions seamless and hassle-free.