UPI payment apps may impose transaction limit

UPI payment apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and others may soon impose a limit on the transaction. Soon users may not be able to make unlimited payments via UPI payment apps.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the UPI digital pipeline, is in discussions with the Reserve Bank about implementing its proposed December 31 deadline for limiting player volume to 30 per cent.

There is currently no volume cap, and Google Pay and PhonePe account for roughly 80 per cent of the market.

In order to avoid concentration risk in November 2022, NPCI proposed a 30 per cent volume cap for third-party app providers (TPAP).

A meeting has already taken place to comprehensively look at all aspects. Besides NPCI officials, senior officials of the finance ministry and RBI also participated in this meeting.

Currently, no final decision has been made to extend the December 31 deadline because the NPCI is evaluating all options.

However, the NPCI is expected to make a decision on UPI market cap implementation by the end of this month.

In 2020, NPCI issued a directive capping the share of transactions that a third-party application provider could process at 30 per cent of the volume of transactions handled on UPI, effective January 1, 2021, to be calculated based on the volume of transactions processed in the previous three months.