Several consumers across the country experienced downtime with UPI (Unified Payments Interface) services on Wednesday, leading to widespread reports of failed transactions on digital payment apps like Google Pay and PhonePe. According to Downdetector, complaints about UPI services exceeded 23,000 after 7:00 PM, and the outage lasted for over an hour before services were restored.
“NPCI had faced intermittent technical issues owing to which UPI had partial decline. The same has been addressed now and the system has stabilised. Regret the inconvenience,” the National Payments Corporation of India said on X.
UPI Outages
This was UPI's fourth major outage in the past year. In February 2024, UPI services were briefly suspended nationwide, with NPCI attributing the disruption to technical issues on the part of partner banks.
Then, in June of last year, media reports noted that users who placed orders for mutual fund units on June 4 received the NAV for June 5; later, the BSE clarified that while there was no technical fault on its end, some clients did experience latency in receiving payments via UPI.
In August 2024, a ransomware attack on C-Edge Technologies, a bank technology service provider, disrupted UPI services for over 300 small banks.
Nonetheless, as smartphone and internet penetration continues to increase, digital payments are gaining further traction across the country. According to NPCI data, UPI processed 16.11 billion transactions worth Rs 21.96 lakh crore in February 2025, compared to 16.99 billion transactions valued at Rs 23.48 lakh crore in January.
The UPI, developed by the NPCI, is a cornerstone of India's digital payment ecosystem, processing more than 80% of the country’s retail transactions and serving millions of users. This recent disruption is followed by the record‑breaking transaction volumes earlier this year, where January alone saw 16.99 billion transactions worth Rs 23.48 lakh crore.
However, despite its robust infrastructure designed to manage high transaction volumes, the outage highlights potential vulnerabilities in a system that has become vital for everyday financial activities. The growing reliance on digital payments, especially amplified during the pandemic, makes such disruptions particularly disruptive.
