5 new changes in UPI that have come into effect this year which you need to know

New UPI rules and regulations

• Payment apps like Google Pay and PhonePe are required to verify and maintain active UPI IDs, as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) directs the deactivation of inactive UPI IDs after a year.
• The RBI has recently increased the UPI transaction limit for hospitals and educational institutions from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, enabling higher online payments following the monetary policy committee meeting.
• RBI proposes a 4-hour window for users initiating first payments over Rs 2,000 to new recipients, providing the option for transaction reversal or modification to enhance control and security.
• For specific merchant UPI transactions surpassing Rs 2,000 and involving prepaid payment instruments (PPI), such as online wallets, there will be a 1.1 percent interchange fee.
• Starting now, when users make a payment using UPI apps to someone, the actual name of the person's bank account will be shown on the screen.
• NPCI's 'UPI for Secondary Market' enters the Beta phase, allowing limited pilot customers to block funds post-trade confirmation and settle payments on a T 1 basis via Clearing Corporations, as per reports.
• Hitachi Payment Services, in collaboration with NPCI, launched India's first UPI-ATM, with plans for nationwide introduction, allowing cash withdrawal through QR code scanning.

UPI is a real-time payment system created by the NPCI, a regulatory body under the RBI. Utilising the existing IMPS infrastructure, UPI facilitates immediate money transfers between the bank accounts of any two parties.

It is worth noting that in November 2023, UPI transactions reached a new high in value, reaching Rs 17.4 trillion, showing a 1.4 percent increase from October 2023's Rs 17.16 trillion. However, the number of transactions experienced a slight decline, decreasing by 1.5 percent to 11.24 billion compared to the record high of 11.41 billion in the previous month.