UPI New Rules: Today, digital payments have become an integral part of our daily lives in India. From buying vegetables to online shopping, paying electricity and water bills, and sending money to friends or relatives, UPI is used everywhere. Therefore, any changes to UPI rules directly affect millions of users.

Keeping this in mind, the government, the Reserve Bank of India, and NPCI have decided to implement some new UPI rules from February 2026. These changes aim to make the payment system faster, curb fraud, and give users more control over their transactions. If you use Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, or any other UPI app, you need to know about these changes.

UPI Payments Will Now Be Faster

According to the new rules, UPI transactions and the associated system response must be completed within 10 seconds. Previously, this took up to 30 seconds, which sometimes caused payments to get stuck or delayed. The reduced time limit will now ensure faster payments, fewer pending transactions, and better system performance even during peak hours. This will benefit both customers and merchants.

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What is API and why will it have an impact?

API stands for Application Programming Interface, which in simple terms can be described as a means of communication between two apps or systems. When you make a UPI payment, your app retrieves balance information from your bank and then sends a message to the recipient’s bank to accept the payment. This entire process happens through the API. Now that the API will be faster, the entire payment process will also become smoother and faster.

Security will be prioritised, and users will have more control

The new UPI rules to be implemented in 2026 place special emphasis on security, especially for large amount payments. Clear confirmation messages will be provided before payment, and additional security features will be added for auto payments and subscriptions. Users will be able to easily view, manage, and cancel their subscriptions as needed. This is expected to reduce instances of incorrect deductions and fraud.

Inactive UPI IDs may be blocked

If a UPI ID remains unused for a long period, it may be temporarily deactivated. Such IDs will be considered dormant UPI IDs. Users will have to undergo re-verification to use them again. The aim is to prevent the misuse of old and forgotten accounts. Additionally, if a UPI transaction fails or gets stuck, banks and app companies will have to resolve the issue within a few hours. Users will be given clear information on whether the money has been deducted, where it is stuck, and when it will be refunded.

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UPI’s continuously growing record

The government informed Parliament that transactions worth approximately ₹230 lakh crore have been conducted through UPI in the current financial year up to December. This figure is significantly higher than the ₹139 lakh crore recorded in 2022-23. This clearly shows that people’s trust in UPI is continuously increasing. Now, UPI is not limited to India alone, but is also being used in countries like Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates.

The government and NPCI are working together to further facilitate person-to-person and person-to-merchant payments abroad. According to the IMF’s June 2025 report, UPI has become the world’s largest real-time retail payment system. The ACI Worldwide 2024 report indicates that UPI accounts for approximately 49 percent of all real-time digital payments worldwide.

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