UPI down for several users across India, third outage in 30 days
A major technical disruption hit Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services across India on Saturday morning, marking the third significant outage in just 30 days. Users of popular digital payment apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm found themselves unable to complete transactions, leading to widespread inconvenience for both individuals and businesses. According to DownDetector, a platform that tracks service disruptions, over 2,147 complaints were logged by 12:56 PM, with nearly 80% of users facing issues during payment attempts. Earlier in the day, 1,168 complaints had already been recorded, underscoring the growing frustration.
The outage affected a wide range of financial institutions, including major banks like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and Kotak Mahindra Bank. This disruption follows a series of technical issues that have periodically impacted UPI in recent weeks.
In related news, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) recently introduced a policy change concerning international UPI transactions. As of April 8, the use of QR codes for payments made outside India has been restricted to enhance payer identification. However, domestic QR-based payments within India remain unaffected.
This latest glitch follows another major UPI outage on March 26, which caused widespread issues with digital transactions. The NPCI addressed the technical problems, stating that intermittent issues had caused the disruption, but the system has now been stabilized. They expressed regret over the inconvenience caused.
