UPI IDs not used for one year to be disabled soon

New Delhi: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), has directed banks and payment applications like Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe, etc., to disable UPI IDs and numbers associated with customers who have not conducted any transactions for a period of one year or longer.

IBNS • 18 Nov 2023, 12:55 am

The deadline for deactivating these UPI IDs is December 31.

As per a circular from NPCI, users who have remained inactive for over one year will no longer be able to receive funds on their UPI IDs starting January.

The move is intended to prevent inadvertent fund transfers to unintended recipients in cases where customers alter their mobile numbers without unlinking their previous number from the banking system.

NPCI, in the circular, stated, “All TPAPs and PSP (Payment Service Provider) banks shall identify UPI IDs and associated UPI numbers and phone numbers of customers who have not performed any financial (debit or credit) or non-financial transactions for a time period of 1 year from the UPI apps.”

The circular added, “UPI IDs and UPI numbers of such customers shall be disabled for inward credit transactions.”

This was circulated on November 7 to all the members of UPI.