Latest news with #NPCI
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
UPI users will not be able to make these transactions from October 1: PhonePe, Google Pay to stop…
Do you often rely on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) apps like PhonePe, GPay, and Paytm for online payments? Then, you may want to keep an eye out for the new National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) rules for UPI payments. Reportedly, the NPCI will remove one of the most used UPI features, which we call peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions. This feature is widely used to send a UPI account holder a request for money. Now, this feature will be removed from the UPI apps from October 1, 2025, to strengthen user security and reduce financial fraud. Know more about how the new UPI payment rules will affect users. NPCI announces new UPI payment rules to reduce fraud. Here's everything you need to know.(AI generated) New UPI payment rules In a circular dated July 29, NPCI stated that 'By October 1, 2025, UPI P2P Collect shall not be allowed to be processed in UPI.' This means that the 'collect request' feature from banks and payment apps will be entirely removed from the mentioned date. The P2P feature is widely used to send money requests to other UPI app users, reminding them to share the amount or simply split a bill. However, this feature is being used by fraudsters to trick UPI users and empty their accounts. Fraudsters often use this feature to send user requests in the pretence of a fake role or a false emergency. Once the user accepts the requests, they instantly start to lose money, without realising that they have become a victim of a scam. Therefore, removing the P2P feature will reduce these scam risks. Earlier, the P2P transaction was limited to ₹2,000 per transaction. This has helped reduce several fraud cases, yet it was not enough to entirely stop them. Now, users will have to strictly rely on a QR code or select the contact number to send money using the UPI PIN from October 1. Will it affect merchant transactions? Well, these new UPI payment rules will not affect merchant transactions that include Flipkart, Amazon, Swiggy, and IRCTC. These platforms will be allowed to share a collection request to complete the payment. However, users will still have the charge, as they will have to approve the request and enter their UPI PIN to complete the payment. Mobile Finder: iPhone 17 Air LATEST specs, features, and price
Mint
4 hours ago
- Business
- Mint
Autopay chaos near as thousands of @paytm handles to go on the blink
Come 1 September, and thousands of autopay transactions for insurance premiums and Netflix subscriptions may fail, as a hard deadline to discontinue the @paytm handle for UPI payments kicks in. As part of a series of measures against Paytm Payments Bank last year, the Reserve Bank of India curbed the use of the @paytm UPI handle. Following this, the National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) mandated migrating these handles to other banks. However, multiple old handles remain tied to autopay mandates, putting these planned transactions at risk once the deadline is crossed, two people familiar with the matter said. 'Users will have to first cancel the existing mandate linked to the @paytm handle and then create a fresh one with their new handles. There has to be a greater push for users to do that," said an insurance industry executive said on the condition of anonymity. Despite repeated reminders, many customers have not migrated yet, the executive added. Emails sent to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NPCI and Paytm remained unanswered. Clampdown On 31 January 2024, RBI barred any addition of funds to Paytm Payments Bank accounts, wallets and Fastags. In February 2024, RBI said that @paytm UPI handles should be migrated to a different clutch of banks and that the payments bank will not be allowed to undertake any transactions post 15 March. On 17 April, Paytm said it is transitioning these handles to Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and Yes Bank. The people cited earlier said that the transition was quick for everything else other than autopay mandates. While autopay failure can affect recurring payments in any industry, the impact can be worse in insurance—Missing a premium payment can send your policy into a grace period, after which the policy can lapse, depriving the customer of its benefits and coverage. Industry executives said that at least ₹1,400 crore worth of annual insurance premium autopay mandates are still tied to old Paytm handles. Autopay allows users to set up recurring UPI payments to various merchants. The industry has taken up the matter with retail payment umbrella body NPCI, but there has been no solution so far, they said. 'August 31, 2025 is the final deadline for servicing UPI autopay mandates on @paytm handles. The decision has already undergone two extensions, and further continuance beyond this deadline is not envisaged," according to an NPCI communication seen by Mint. 'We request all concerned merchants to urgently engage with Paytm to migrate active mandates and avoid disruption to customer services." Premium pain The executive cited above added that just for insurance, there are nearly 500,000 @Paytm UPI autopay mandates with an insurance aggregator which would fail after 31 August. These are primarily linked to life insurance premium payments, he said. Merchant Payments Alliance of India, an association of digital merchants including Netflix, Spotify, Amazon and Policybazaar, has been lobbying to resolve the issue. 'Due to the absence of an automated solution, customers stand to encounter disruption, businesses could struggle to realize payments, and in some sectors, critical services might be interrupted and product benefits curtailed," an MPAI spokesperson said. 'Ideally, this migration process should be automated, and without any customer intervention. Sadly, at this point, there's no functional and scalable solution for mandates that are at risk. Until this solution becomes available, critical sectors (insurance, lending and healthcare) should be granted exemptions," the spokesperson added. Seeking data According to the executive cited earlier, NPCI has sought data from merchants on the number of active autopay mandates using the @paytm handle, along with transaction value. 'NPCI wants merchants to work directly with Paytm to resolve this issue and look for alternatives," said the executive. Many merchants are also wary of the shifting customers to another handle because they fear some users might cancel their recurring payments when reached out to, he added. Experts said that auto pay was designed to simplify subscriptions and collections and while the underlying infrastructure is all in place, altering autopay mandates is bound to have friction. Changes in autopay needs customers' consent, and cannot be changed at the backend by the payment provider or the merchant, said Parijat Garg, an independent digital lending consultant. 'Customers will, in general, have an inertia to start new autopay mandates and might also be worried about UPI frauds when clicking on links asking for changes to existing mandates," said Garg. He added that given how large Paytm's presence is in the digital banking segment, such a massive exercise will take time. Info haze What has added to the uncertainty and challenge is the absence of any official information in the public domain, he said, adding attempts to manually migrate some customers were unsuccessful as customers misunderstood the attempts as those perpetrated by scamsters due to phishing and social engineering concerns making the re-registration of fresh mandates an unsuccessful exercise. 'The Paytm issue was resolved last year, and these autopay mandates have been in place for several years, and have been working fine for the past year. So, this sudden policy change is difficult to communicate to users, especially because there was so much miscommunication around the changes for Paytm users last year," one of the two officials cited above said. Interestingly, for autopay mandates from other bank accounts, RBI had said in 2024 that loan instalments registered with other bank accounts 'can continue" without setting a deadline or clarifying for other recurring payments such as insurance premiums.
Economic Times
17 hours ago
- Business
- Economic Times
ETtech Explainer: How the rise in online payment frauds pushed NPCI to kill ‘pull' transactions
Agencies From October 31, you may not be able to request someone to pay you through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is shutting down this 'pull' transaction service, due to the proliferation of fraud cases, sources told understand what this means and why it is happening. What are push and pull UPI transactions? A push UPI transaction is when the user or payer sends money to someone else through apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, or BHIM by scanning a QR code, entering their UPI ID or their phone number. The person then chooses an account, adds the amount, and confirms it with a UPI PIN. The transaction is initiated and authorised only by the sender.A pull transaction, which goes by 'collect' or 'request money' on some apps, is initiated by the recipient, who sends a payment request. The payer receives a notification asking for approval of the payment. This feature has sometimes led to confusion or enabled manipulation. Why is NPCI killing this feature? NPCI has sent a communication to banks and fintech firms that it is removing the feature. It had capped the pull method at Rs 2,000 per transaction in 2019, to reduce the risk of unauthorised payments body said it aims to curb the growing threat of UPI-related scams. Most frauds are linked to the pull method, where unsuspecting users approve unauthorised payment requests, resulting in financial losses. Fraudsters frequently exploit the feature by sending deceptive UPI frauds include QR code scams, phishing via messaging and social media apps and fraudsters posing as bank or support representatives. What do the numbers show? According to Reserve Bank of India data, frauds related to payment cards and internet banking more than doubled to 29,000 in FY25, involving about Rs 1,457 crore. There were 13,516 such attacks, involving Rs 520 crore, in the previous financial (P2P) transactions accounted for 7.08 billion transactions worth Rs 17.74 lakh crore, up from about 5 billion a year ago. There are ongoing discussions about the cost of processing UPI transactions. Some banks have begun levying charges on certain UPI payments after the government reduced incentives for processing small-value merchant transactions. Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Regulatory gray area makes investing in LVMH, BP tough For Indian retail How IDBI banker landed plush Delhi properties in Amtek's INR33k crore skimming As 50% US tariff looms, 6 key steps that can safeguard Indian economy Jane Street blow pushes Indian quants to ancient Greek idea to thrive Stock Radar: Astra Microwave showing signs of bottoming out after 16% fall from highs; time to buy? F&O Radar | Deploy Broken Wing in Paytm to play stock's bullish outlook These 9 banking stocks can give more than 28% returns in 1 year, according to analysts Why 2025 Could Be The Astrological Turning Point We've Been Waiting For
Time of India
17 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
ETtech Explainer: How the rise in online payment frauds pushed NPCI to kill ‘pull' transactions
Academy Empower your mind, elevate your skills From October 31, you may not be able to request someone to pay you through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The National Payments Corporation of India ( NPCI is shutting down this 'pull' transaction service , due to the proliferation of fraud cases , sources told understand what this means and why it is happening.A push UPI transaction is when the user or payer sends money to someone else through apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, or BHIM by scanning a QR code, entering their UPI ID or their phone number. The person then chooses an account, adds the amount, and confirms it with a UPI PIN. The transaction is initiated and authorised only by the sender.A pull transaction, which goes by 'collect' or 'request money' on some apps, is initiated by the recipient, who sends a payment request. The payer receives a notification asking for approval of the payment. This feature has sometimes led to confusion or enabled has sent a communication to banks and fintech firms that it is removing the feature. It had capped the pull method at Rs 2,000 per transaction in 2019, to reduce the risk of unauthorised payments body said it aims to curb the growing threat of UPI-related scams. Most frauds are linked to the pull method, where unsuspecting users approve unauthorised payment requests, resulting in financial losses. Fraudsters frequently exploit the feature by sending deceptive UPI frauds include QR code scams, phishing via messaging and social media apps and fraudsters posing as bank or support to Reserve Bank of India data, frauds related to payment cards and internet banking more than doubled to 29,000 in FY25, involving about Rs 1,457 crore. There were 13,516 such attacks, involving Rs 520 crore, in the previous financial (P2P) transactions accounted for 7.08 billion transactions worth Rs 17.74 lakh crore, up from about 5 billion a year ago. There are ongoing discussions about the cost of processing UPI transactions. Some banks have begun levying charges on certain UPI payments after the government reduced incentives for processing small-value merchant transactions.
Time of India
18 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
NPCI is shutting down these QR code-based UPI transactions starting October 1
AI-generated image The government may have a new plan to curb Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-related scams. According to an Economic Times report, the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is shutting down recipient-initiated person-to-person (P2P) digital payments, also known as 'pull' transactions. Quoting people familiar with the matter, the report says that the development will come into effect from October 31. NPCI has informed banks and fintech companies about the decision, the report added. As per industry insiders quoted by ET in its report, P2P pull transactions account for only about 3% of UPI activity, making it easier for NPCI to withdraw the feature. What is UPI Pull transaction feature A UPI pull transaction, also called a collect request, is a type of payment where the recipient starts the transaction instead of the sender. Once the payment request is initiated, the sender approves it by entering their UPI PIN. However, the payment method has become an increasingly misused payment tool used by fraudsters to dupe innocent citizens. How QR code-based UPI payments method is used by fraudsters Fraudsters exploit the UPI pull payment method by taking advantage of people who don't fully understand how it works or who act in haste. In many cases, the scammers pretend to send money for something like an online sale or a refund. But instead of making a normal push payment, they send a collect request to the victim's UPI ID. Once the victim enters their UPI PIN to approve it, the money is sent to the fraudster. Scammers also pretend to be merchants or service providers and send a pull request disguised as a payment confirmation link. People who are in a hurry or feel pressured often do not notice the details and authorise the payment. NPCI capped UPI pull payments to Rs 2,000 In 2019, NPCI had capped such transactions at Rs 2,000 in 2019. 'In the initial days, this feature was designed with the thought that friends splitting a bill can send pull payment links after the party, just to be approved by the other person,' a senior fintech industry executive told the publication. 'However, there are a lot of frauds happening in such payments, where fraudsters take money from gullible consumers in the garb of actually sending money,' the banker added. UBON SP-85: Portable Party Speaker On A Budget AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
