UPI Payments Set to Speed Up from June 16
By Team CodeForBanks | May 5, 2025
UPI payments set to speed up from June 16! That's right, and it's going to benefit people from different backgrounds in varying ways. Starting June 16, 2025, your Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions will not be taking over 15 seconds to complete, thanks to the new guidelines by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
UPI Payments Faster from June 16
NPCI has mandated reduced response times for key APIs. The response time for common UPI APIs like Request Pay and Check Transaction Status will be reduced to 15 and 10 seconds, respectively.
This is a major upgrade for India's digital payment system.
| Feature | Current Standard | New Standard (Effective June 16, 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Transaction Completion Time | Up to 30 seconds | 15 seconds |
| Status Response Time | 30 seconds | 10 seconds |
| Failed Transaction Reversal | 30 seconds | 10 seconds |
| Address Validation | 15 seconds | 10 seconds |
| Applies To | All UPI apps and banks | PhonePe, Paytm, GPay, etc. |
| Official Source | NPCI Circular | npci.org.in |
UPI is India's real-time payment system developed by NPCI. NPCI, on the other hand, facilitates inter-bank transactions through mobile apps.
While UPI transactions took up to 30 seconds till now, they will be taking only 10-15 seconds from now onwards. This matters because faster transactions will bolster businesses and even benefit the common man.
Faster UPI Payments - What are the Updates?
Here are the updated changes:
15-Second Payment Completion
When you will be making online money transfer to a cab driver or a fruit vendor, you will not have to wait for more than 15 seconds, which was taking up to 30 seconds till now.
Faster Transaction Status Updates
Many a times, our payments show a failed status. Several times, we are not able to make sure whether or not the payment was made and the money was deducted. Now, it will not need more than 10 seconds to clarify the payment completion status. This will reduce confusion and anxiety both during payment received and made.
Quicker Reversal of Failed Payments
When a payment used to fail, we required to wait for the refund amount. This created frustration as we had to check over and over again for the refund status. Now, even this refund process will be no longer than just 10 seconds.
Streamlined Address Validation
A mere timeframe of 10 seconds will also be taken for address validation.
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Why This Matters? How Does it Impact Us?
Here's why it matters for people from varied areas:
Regular users:
- Quick payments to family, friends, merchants
- Quicker confirmation of the transactions and less worry
- Better experience even in crowded and slow-internet zones
Businesses:
- Faster queue movement at retail shops and hospitality
- Smoother customer experience at checkout
- Fewer chances of cart abandonment during online purchases
Banks and PSPs (Payment Service Providers):
- Must upgrade the backend systems prior to June 16, 2025
- Must ensure that response times comply with NPCI's new rules
- Must give high accountability, or else pay for delays
Clearly, the new rules bring benefits for us all. However, banks and PSPPs in particular, also have an added responsibility, which if not fulfilled accordingly may cause them penalties.
It is worth pointing out at this point that UPI faced an outage early this month due to a technical issue. There were partial UPI transaction declines. The NPCI has declared working to resolve the issue.
UPI's Growth: Some Statistics
Here are some stats (numbers) to further show why this upgrade matters so much:
- 13.3 billion UPI transactions were recorded in March 2025; their total value exceeded Rs.18.5 lakh crore.
- Over 390 banks and payment apps are integrated into the UPI ecosystem.
- Apps like PhonePe, Paytm, and Google Pay dominate the market; they are responsible for handling nearly 90% of UPI volume.
Given such massive adoption, even a small change of a few seconds' reduction in payment processing should have a huge impact on the overall productivity and efficiency.
As per Bhargav Errangi, CEO & Founder POP UPI, the initial implementation phase may see minor adjustments, as systems and personnel adapt to the new guidelines.
The changes are expected to bolster confidence among users in the digital payment system of the country.
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