The Unified Payments Interface system faced another outage on Saturday. Thousands of users struggled to complete transactions. This marks the third disruption in UPI services within just one month.
Users of Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm reported widespread issues. The problems peaked at 12:43 pm when over 2,000 complaints flooded Down Detector. About 79% of users experienced payment failures. Another 19% could not transfer funds. The remaining complaints involved purchase-related issues.
The UPI transaction processing system, managed by the National Payments Corporation of India, encountered an issue as far as X confirmed. "NPCI is currently facing intermittent technical issues leading to partial UPI transaction decline," reads an update on the issue along with no timeframe for solution provided.
However, there have been other similar interruptions that have happened on April 2 and also on March 26. The April 2 disruption mainly affected fund transfers speed and NPCI blamed these on "fluctuations" in bank transaction success ratios. Concerning the March 26 event, they mentioned frustration from over 3,000 user complaints. The disruption lasted for two to three hours.
These recurring glitches raise questions about the reliability of the digital payment system in India. UPI is becoming crucial in the lives of millions who use it for daily transactions. The system effectively processes billions of transactions monthly across the nation.
NPCI has not released the information that it has acquired so far about the ongoing problem. Some tech experts suggest the rapid growth in transaction volume may be stressing the system beyond its capacity. The agency faces mounting pressure to strengthen its infrastructure as digital payments continue to replace cash transactions across India.