UPI Outage Hits India: Payments Fail, NPCI Works on Fix

Aakhir Tak – In Shorts

A significant UPI outage disrupted services across India on Saturday.
This marks the fourth such technical snag affecting UPI within a month.
Users faced failed transactions on platforms like Paytm and Google Pay.
NPCI acknowledged “intermittent technical issues” and is working on a resolution.
Despite recurring issues, UPI transactions recently hit a record high.

Aakhir Tak – In Depth

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UPI Services Face Another Disruption

Unified Payment Interface (UPI) services experienced major disruptions across various apps in India on Saturday. This incident marks the fourth significant technical snag impacting the popular payment system within the last month. The recurring UPI outage events raise concerns about the robustness of the infrastructure supporting India’s burgeoning digital economy. Users faced considerable inconvenience in completing daily transactions.

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Details of the Outage

According to the outage-tracking website DownDetector, users started reporting issues with UPI transactions around 11:26 a.m. The UPI outage reached its peak intensity at approximately 11:40 a.m. During this time, DownDetector registered over 222 reports specifically concerning failed digital payments via UPI. This data suggests a widespread problem affecting numerous users simultaneously across the country.

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NPCI’s Response and Assurance

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) oversees the UPI infrastructure. They promptly acknowledged the disruption. NPCI stated that it is actively working to resolve the issue causing the UPI outage. In a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), NPCI communicated, “NPCI is currently facing intermittent technical issues, leading to partial UPI transaction declines.” The statement added, “We are working to resolve the issue, and will keep you updated. We regret the inconvenience caused.”

User Frustration and Impact

Users took to social media platforms to express their frustration. Many reported difficulties making payments using popular third-party applications. Platforms mentioned included Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe. One user wrote on X, “UPI is down again today, all payments are getting failed. At least there should be prior intimation sent in case of planned outage.” Another user shared a specific instance of inconvenience, posting, “I was not carrying cash and this downtime placed me in an awkward situation while paying fare to auto wala. Please, we need a zero-downtime UPI infra.” These reports highlight the real-world impact of the UPI outage.

Recurring Technical Problems

Saturday’s incident is the latest in a string of technical difficulties affecting the UPI system. Users have faced similar disruptions recently. On March 26, UPI services were unavailable for a few hours. NPCI attributed that UPI outage to “intermittent technical issues”. Just days later, on March 31, users encountered problems again. NPCI explained this was due to payment processing issues related to bank-side delays during the financial year-end rush. Another brief disruption occurred on April 2, cited as being caused by “latency in the UPI network”.

UPI’s Growing Dominance Amidst Challenges

These service disruptions are happening even as UPI payments gain increasing ubiquity in India. The Finance Ministry recently released data showing strong growth. UPI transactions in January surpassed a staggering 16.99 billion. The total value of these transactions exceeded Rs 23.48 lakh crore. This represents a record high for any single month. The ministry also underscored UPI’s critical role. Quoted by PTI, the ministry stated, “Unified Payments Interface (UPI) remains the cornerstone of India’s digital payment ecosystem, contributing to 80 per cent of the retail payments across the country.” This dominance makes any UPI outage highly impactful.

Aakhir Tak – Key Takeaways to Remember

India faced another major UPI outage on Saturday, the fourth in a month.
Users reported widespread transaction failures on apps like Paytm, Google Pay, and PhonePe.
NPCI confirmed “intermittent technical issues” and is working towards resolution.
Users expressed frustration over lack of prior notice and inconvenience caused by the outage.
Despite disruptions, UPI remains central to India’s digital payments, handling 80% of retail transactions.