Big changes to UPI from August 1: Daily limits, API rules, and penalties introduced

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has implemented new standards to improve the efficiency and reliability of UPI transactions. These include measures like limiting balance inquiry queries and easing the use of important APIs like Autopay Mandate (APIs) like autopay mandate execution and validate address, which UPI ecosystem players must now adhere to.

As per the new NPCI guidelines, each customer can make up to 50 balance enquiries per app per day within a rolling 24-hour period. These requests must be initiated only by the customer and not by the app or system automatically. To reduce system load during peak hours, UPI apps should have the ability to limit or stop balance enquiry requests when needed. Additionally, issuer banks are required to include the available account balance in the confirmation message after every successful UPI transaction.

The List Account API helps users view the list of bank accounts linked to their mobile number through a specific bank in the UPI app. As per NPCI guidelines, the usage is limited to 25 requests per customer per app per day (on a rolling 24-hour basis). These requests should be made only after the customer selects their bank in the UPI app. If the account list fails to load, any retry must be done only with the customer’s consent to avoid unnecessary system load.

NPCI has set a limit of one initial attempt and up to three retries per mandate (identified by each sequence number). This means a total of four attempts are allowed to execute a single mandate. To further reduce congestion, all Autopay executions should be scheduled during non-peak hours only.

Peak hours are defined as the period during the day when UPI financial transactions reach the highest transactions per second, observed from 10:00 hrs to 13:00 hrs and from 17:00 hrs to 21:30 hrs.

If a member (such as a bank or payment service provider) does not adhere to the compliance requirement stated in the notice, the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) may take actions such as the member's access to UPI APIs may be limited or blocked, fines may be imposed and NPCI reserves the right to take any other corrective or disciplinary actions.

According to an NPCI press release on May 21, 2025, “Members are requested to take note of this compliance requirement and communicate it to relevant stakeholders and their respective partners for implementation by 31 July, 2025. In the event of non­-compliance to the above guidelines, NPCI may take necessary action including UPI API restrictions, penalties, suspension of new customer on-boarding or any other measures deemed appropriate.”