Your UPI transaction may stop working from February 1 for this reason
The UPI transaction will not work from 1 February: NPCI says, all UPI IDs should have alphonumeric characters only from February 1, 2025. Any UPI ID in which special characters such as @,!, Or # can cause transactions failure.
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The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that special characters will no longer be allowed in the UPI ID starting on February 1, 2025. This decision is part of the effort to ensure that all UPI transactions follow technical specifications and follow and improve technical specifications. Overall security of digital payment platform.
According to a circular issued by NPCI on 9 January, the new rule will require strictly alphanumeric of all UPI transactions IDs. This means that any transaction ID in which special characters such as @,!, Or # system will be rejected automatically. The NPCI said that most of the participants in the UPI ecosystem have already complied with technical standards, some continue to use non-transport formats. To address this, the corporation has decided to strictly implement the rule from 1 February 2025.
For millions of Indians who rely on UPI for daily transactions, there may be some implications of this change. If a user tries to pay through an app that generates transactions ID with special characters, the transaction will fail.
For example, if your phone number is 1234567890, and you have an UPI ID with SBI Bank. In that case, a valid ID may look like 1234567890Oksbi, while an invalid can be an 1234567890@OK-SBI. The latter, including special characters (@ and -), will no longer be accepted after the new rule is effective.
To avoid the failure of transactions, users are advised to take some simple steps. First of all, they should ensure that their UPI apps are updated in the latest version. The app updates often include compliance facilities and safety improvements, so it is important to keep the app up -to -date. Additionally, users can check the settings or announcements of their app for any information about compliance with the new rules of NPCI.
If the users are uncertain whether their app is obedient, they can contact the app to the app for clarification. It is also recommended to stick to the UPI application downloaded from reliable sources like Apple’s app store or Google’s Play Store, as the third-party apps cannot always follow the NPCI guidelines.
The decision to ban special characters in UPI IDS is part of a comprehensive effort to standardize and secure UPI ecosystems. According to data released by NPCI, UPI has become one of the most popular digital payments systems in India, with a transaction volume 16.73 billion increase in December 2024, 8 percent from last month.
