New Delhi, August 2, 2025 — The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has issued a fresh set of compliance directives to streamline and stabilize the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem. The changes, which come into effect from August 1, 2025, focus on reducing congestion, enhancing user experience, and ensuring optimal network usage during peak hours.
Limit on Daily Balance Enquiries
Under the new rules, UPI users can perform a maximum of 50 balance enquiry requests per app per day. These are strictly user-initiated actions; automated or app-triggered balance checks are no longer permitted.
Moreover, issuer banks must display the available account balance in the confirmation message of every successful transaction, enabling users to stay informed without overloading the system with balance requests.
To reduce strain on servers during peak times, UPI apps are also advised to limit or disable balance enquiries during high-traffic periods.
“These new guidelines strike a good balance between user convenience and network resilience,” said Rohit Mahajan, Founder and Managing Partner of Plutos ONE.
Restrictions on Bank Account Listing
The List Account API, which allows users to view bank accounts linked to their mobile numbers, will now be limited to 25 requests per customer per app per day. Each request must be initiated only after the user selects their bank, and retries will require explicit user consent.
Mandate Execution Restricted to Non-Peak Hours
In a significant shift for recurring payments, Autopay Mandates can now be attempted only once initially, with up to three additional retries, totaling four execution attempts per mandate.
To prevent network congestion, Autopay executions must be scheduled during non-peak hours.
Peak UPI hours have been officially defined as:
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10:00 AM to 1:00 PM
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5:00 PM to 9:30 PM
These hours reflect periods when transaction volumes are at their highest.
Implementation Deadline & Penalties
All Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and other stakeholders must ensure full compliance by July 31, 2025. NPCI has warned of strict consequences for non-compliance, including:
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Restriction on UPI API access
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Penalties
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Suspension of new customer onboarding
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Other regulatory actions deemed appropriate
“Members are requested to take note of this compliance requirement… In the event of non-compliance, NPCI may take necessary action,” stated an official NPCI press release dated May 21, 2025.
With UPI now a global model for real-time payments, these refinements aim to support its continued growth, scalability, and reliability—especially as volumes surge across financial institutions and enterprise-level platforms.
