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The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced a major upgrade to the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), aiming to dramatically speed up digital transactions across the country. Starting June 16, 2025, UPI users will experience faster payments, quicker status checks, and speedier refunds. According to a circular issued by NPCI on April 26, 2025, the new changes will reduce the time for several key UPI operations by half or more. As usage of UPI continues to surge, these updates are designed to keep the system efficient, responsive, and scalable for India’s growing digital economy.

Faster Transactions, Quicker Refunds, Smoother Experience: UPI Makeover

Npci confirmed that the time taken to complete UPI transactions—whether sending or receiving money—will reduce from 30 seconds to just 15 seconds. Additionally, the status check and payment reversal time will drop from 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making refunds and error resolutions much faster. The time to verify a recipient’s address will also reduce from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.

These improvements target delays that users often face during peak transaction periods or network congestion. NPCI stated that the changes aim to improve transaction flow without compromising the success rate.

NPCI has instructed all banks and payment service providers to upgrade their backend systems. The goal is to ensure that API response times are cut by 50%, enabling smoother communication between UPI platforms and banking systems. These enhancements are part of a broader infrastructure push to support growing transaction volumes and reduce friction for users.

UPI Breaks Records In April 2025

The update follows a record-setting month for UPI. In April 2025, the system handled 17.89 billion transactions, a 34% increase from the same month last year. The total transaction value in April reached a staggering ₹23.95 lakh crore, reflecting UPI’s deep penetration into India’s digital economy.

NPCI emphasized that these improvements are necessary to maintain performance and user satisfaction as transaction volumes continue to climb.

System Upgrade Comes After April Glitch

Earlier in April, UPI users experienced glitches during peak hours due to technical issues in bank servers. Several payments failed, leading to frustration among users. At the time, NPCI acknowledged the issue on social media, posting:
“We are having some technical issues right now, and a few UPI transactions are not going through. We are working on fixing it and will keep you informed. Sorry for the trouble caused.”

Following that incident, NPCI accelerated system evaluations and enhancements to prevent similar disruptions.

Banks Asked to Comply Without Compromising Success Rates

While the new processing speeds are ambitious, NPCI has clearly instructed banks and service providers not to let speed affect reliability. The circular stated that faster UPI operations must retain high transaction success rates and system stability.

As the June 16 deadline approaches, users can expect a significantly faster and more seamless UPI experience across platforms.