The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has brought in new guidelines to further strengthen security and improve the efficiency of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, which will be effective from April 1, 2025.
According to the new guidelines, banks, Payment Service Providers (PSPs), and third-party UPI apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm will have to follow certain procedures concerning numeric UPI IDs. One of the main instructions is that these parties should regularly update their databases with the Mobile Number Revocation List/Digital Intelligence Platform (MNRL/DIP) at least weekly.
As per NPCI’s instruction, “The Banks, PSP App shall utilize the Mobile Number Revocation List/Digital Intelligence Platform (MNRL/DIP) and refresh their database accordingly on a regular basis, at least weekly.” The step is intended to avoid errors in transactions due to old or reassigned mobile numbers.
According to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) regulations, a disconnected mobile number can be reassigned to a new user after 90 days. Commonly, when a mobile subscriber does not use the number for three months in succession for calling, messaging, or mobile data, telecom operators deactivate it and subsequently assign it to another subscriber.
Reflecting this policy, the NPCI’s updated UPI rules will deactivate UPI IDs linked to inactive mobile numbers. To avoid disruption in digital transactions, users should ensure that their registered mobile numbers remain active and in use.
Along with these adjustments, NPCI is also gradually discontinuing the “Collect Payments” facility on UPI to control increasing fraud cases. In a report, The Economic Times states that the feature will now be restricted to big, validated merchants, whereas person-to-person collect payments will be capped at ₹2,000.
