Inactive UPI users beware: IDs may face deactivation if unused for over a year

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the entity overseeing the Unified Payments Interface , has issued a directive to banks and payment applications like Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe, and others. They are instructed to deactivate Unified Payments Interface IDs and numbers belonging to customers who have not conducted any transactions for a period of one year or more.

The deadline for deactivating these Unified Payments Interface IDs is set for December 31. Following this, customers who have remained inactive for over one year will no longer be able to receive funds on their UPI IDs starting from January, as outlined in a circular by NPCI.

The decision has been taken to prevent the inadvertent transfer of funds to unintended recipients in cases where customers alter their mobile numbers without delinking their old number from the banking system.

As outlined in the circular by NPCI, “All TPAPs (Third-Party App Providers) and PSP banks (Payment Service Provider banks) are required to identify Unified Payments Interface IDs and associated Unified Payments Interface numbers and phone numbers of customers who have not engaged in any financial (debit or credit) or non-financial transactions for a period of 1 year from the UPI apps.”

The circular further stated, “Unified Payments Interface IDs and UPI numbers of such customers shall be disabled for inward credit transactions.” This directive, applicable to all members of UPI, was issued on November 7.

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