UPI Offline Mode: NPCI Building NFC Tap-To-Pay For Flights, Underground Trains

The National Payments Corporation of India is preparing to certify point-of-sale terminals that can accept UPI payments even when neither the customer's phone nor the merchant's device has an internet connection, Business Standard reported.

According to the report, NPCI is likely to begin certifying PoS devices from leading terminal manufacturers starting in 2026. The system would rely on near-field communication technology, letting customers tap an NFC-enabled phone on an offline terminal to make payments of up to ₹2,000.

How The Offline System Would Work

The feature is aimed at places with poor or no connectivity, such as aircraft cabins and underground metro networks, the report said. Customers would need to first load funds into their on-device UPI Lite wallet while connected to the internet. Once loaded, this balance could be used at an offline terminal without requiring a UPI PIN.

"PoS companies will need a certification from NPCI to accept UPI in an offline setting. They can create an application on top of it after they get certified," a source at a fintech firm told Business Standard.

The terminal would store the payment authorisation locally and forward it for verification once connectivity is restored, another source explained. "This is an NFC-driven use-case for UPI apps. You will tap using the app. Even if the terminal is offline, you can pay up to ₹2,000. It will capture the authorisation and send it later for verification once the network is restored," the source said.

A PoS terminal is the hardware merchants commonly use to accept debit and credit cards, prepaid cards and mobile wallet payments. The reported plan would extend this acceptance infrastructure to include certified offline UPI transactions.

Not NPCI's First Offline Payment Push

NPCI had already introduced UPI Lite X in September 2023 to support fully offline transactions, unlike UPI Lite, which typically needs connectivity even though it bypasses real-time access to a bank's core banking system. NPCI's January 2024 guidelines for Lite X covered offline person-to-person payments between NFC phones, as well as person-to-merchant payments through NFC-enabled QR codes, soundboxes or stickers.

The capability now being planned differs in that merchants would receive payments directly through an NPCI-certified PoS terminal, including in situations where that terminal itself is offline. NPCI's BHIM-UPI branding guidelines, updated in June 2026, include design specifications for NFC-enabled QR codes and soundboxes with "Scan or Tap to Pay" instructions, though these guidelines do not mention the new PoS certification programme.

Limits Differ From Existing RBI Rules

The ₹2,000 per-transaction ceiling mentioned in the report does not match limits currently set by the Reserve Bank of India. The RBI's offline digital payments framework, introduced in January 2022 and last updated in December 2024, caps general offline transactions at ₹500 each, with a total outstanding offline limit of ₹2,000 on an instrument. Separately, UPI Lite allows payments of up to ₹1,000, with a total wallet balance limit of ₹5,000.

The RBI's National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2025-30, released in 2026, lists different limits specifically for UPI Lite X: a ₹500 per-transaction cap, a ₹4,000 daily cumulative limit and a ₹2,000 maximum balance. NPCI has not yet published operating rules explaining how the reported ₹2,000 limit for offline PoS payments would align with these existing frameworks.

Under current RBI rules, offline payments require explicit customer consent and can be completed without an additional authentication factor. Issuers must notify customers once transaction data is received, while acquiring institutions bear liability for technical or security issues at the merchant's end.

UPI processed 22.72 billion transactions worth ₹28.92 lakh crore in June 2026, according to NPCI's official data. The report's second source pointed to a possible use case in air travel, noting that some card issuers have restricted card usage on airlines due to operational issues.