RBI Increases Transaction Limits For UPI123Pay, UPI Lite 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to increase the transaction limit for UPI123Pay and UPI Lite to further increase UPI adoption.

Following the meeting of the RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the central bank said that the per transaction limit of UPI123 Pay will be increased to INR 10,000 from INR 5,000 currently.

Besides, the transaction cap for UPI Lite will be enhanced to INR 1,000 from INR 500 currently. To further increase its use, the central bank has also decided to increase the UPI Lite wallet limit to INR 5,000 from INR 2,000 currently.

The RBI said that the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will issue the necessary instructions shortly to facilitate these changes.

Introduced in 2022, UPI123Pay is designed for feature phone users. It allows them to access UPI services without an internet connection in 12 languages. 

Similarly, UPI Lite was launched for small-value transactions, enabling users to make quick payments without needing a full internet connection.

This is the second revision in the transaction limit for UPI Lite over the last year or so. In August last year, the RBI increased the per transaction limit for UPI Lite to INR 500 from INR 200.

Meanwhile, the RBI also said like UPI and IMPS, it has been decided to introduce a ‘beneficiary account name look-up facility’ for RTGS and IMPS transactions to verify the name of the receiver (beneficiary) before initiating a payment transaction. 

“Remitters can input the account number and the branch IFSC code of the beneficiary, following which the name of the beneficiary will be displayed. This facility will increase customer confidence as it would reduce the possibility of wrong credits and frauds. Detailed guidelines will be issued separately,” the RBI said. 

The developments come at a time when UPI continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In September, the number of UPI transactions surged to 15.04 Bn from 14.96 Bn in the previous month.

Fintech giants PhonePe and GooglePay continue to dominate the UPI market with market share of 48.4% and 37.3%, respectively. 

The Indian government is also pitching UPI to the world. In July, PM Narendra Modi said that India plans to integrate UPI with Malaysia’s national payments network PayNet. In the same month, the NPCI rolled out the ‘UPI One World’ wallet for all foreign tourists in partnership with IDFC First Bank and Transcorp International Limited.

Not to mention, countries like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan, Nepal, the UAE and Canada have already deployed India’s UPI payment model to some extent.