In a major disruption to India’s digital payments infrastructure, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network faced a widespread outage on Friday evening, leaving millions of users unable to complete transactions across popular platforms such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, and BHIM.
The disruption began around 6:30 PM IST, with users across social media platforms reporting failed payments, delays in fund transfers, and unresponsive app interfaces. By 8:00 PM, complaints had surged, with monitoring services like Downdetector registering thousands of incident reports. Many users encountered generic error messages like “Transaction failed, please try again later” or experienced abrupt disconnections during payment authentication.
NPCI Responds to Service Disruption
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which manages and operates the UPI network, issued a brief statement acknowledging the issue late Friday night.
“We are aware of intermittent technical issues affecting UPI-based transactions. Our teams are actively working with partner banks and service providers to resolve the problem at the earliest,” NPCI said.
By midnight, the NPCI reported that services had largely been restored, though some users continued to experience slower transaction speeds and occasional failures.
Users and Businesses Hit Hard
The outage had an immediate impact on daily commerce. Small vendors, online retailers, food delivery platforms, and transport aggregators that rely heavily on UPI for payments faced order cancellations and customer complaints. For many consumers, especially in urban areas, UPI is a primary method of payment, and the sudden unavailability disrupted grocery runs, dining, and fuel purchases.
“I was trying to pay my cab fare through Google Pay and the transaction kept failing. I had no cash on me, and it was an awkward situation,” said Neha Sharma, a college student in Delhi.
RBI Calls for Infrastructure Overhaul
This marks the fourth significant UPI outage in the past 12 months, raising concerns over the resilience of India’s digital financial backbone. In response to repeated disruptions, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das recently emphasized the need for banks and payment platforms to bolster their technical infrastructure.
“The NPCI framework is robust, but technical failures often stem from backend systems at individual banks. There is a need for better server redundancy and load management,” Governor Das noted during a recent financial technology summit.
Growing Dependency on Digital Payments
UPI has become central to India’s payments ecosystem, clocking over 13 billion transactions per month as of March 2025. With its ease of use and near-instant settlement, UPI is the preferred mode of payment for a vast population, from urban consumers to rural merchants.
The increasing reliance on digital platforms for essential transactions highlights the critical importance of ensuring system uptime, scalability, and seamless user experiences.
What Should Users Do?
In the event of similar outages, financial experts recommend:
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Keeping a backup payment method, such as credit/debit cards or mobile wallets.
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Following official social media handles of banks and NPCI for real-time updates.
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Reporting failed transactions to respective banks or platforms to ensure timely refunds or clarifications.
While the UPI network has revolutionized digital finance in India, the recurring outages serve as a reminder that technological resilience must grow in step with adoption. As India moves towards a truly cashless economy, stability in the digital infrastructure is not just a technical necessity—it’s an economic imperative.