India’s Unified Payments Interface, or UPI, is changing in August 2025. These changes will affect how you pay, receive money, or manage your bank accounts using apps like Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe, and BHIM. Don’t worry if you aren’t a tech expert—this article explains the New UPI rules August 2025 in simple language.
Why Is UPI Changing?
UPI is growing faster than ever. In June 2025, people made over 18.4 billion transactions worth ₹24.04 lakh crore using UPI. That’s over 600 million payments each day! Because so many people use UPI at the same time, the system sometimes struggles. Apps get slow, transactions fail, or banks show errors. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which controls UPI, wants to fix these problems. So, they have set new rules, starting from August 1, 2025.
These rules will:
- Reduce traffic during busy hours.
- Stop users and apps from making too many calls to banks.
- Keep digital payments safe.
- Make UPI work faster and without errors.
Let’s break down each New UPI rules August 2025 and see how it will affect you.
1. Limit on Checking Your Bank Balance
Do you check your bank balance often on your UPI app? NPCI found that many people—and some apps—keep asking banks for balance updates over and over. This overloads the servers, especially during busy times.
Now, you can check your bank balance up to 50 times per day, per UPI app. This is counted in a rolling 24-hour window, not by calendar days. If you hit the limit, your app will show an error. You’ll have to wait for your limit to reset.
This rule targets people who check their balance many times. If you use UPI normally, you probably won’t hit this limit.
Tip: For each UPI transaction you make, your bank now must show you your updated balance. You may not need to check your balance separately.
2. Restriction on Viewing Linked Accounts
Every UPI user links one or more bank accounts to their mobile apps. Sometimes, when we want to pay from a different account or add a new one, the app checks which accounts are linked.
But some apps kept asking this data too often. It became a problem. So, there’s a new rule:
You can get your linked account list only 25 times per day per app. After that, your app will not allow more attempts until the 24-hour period ends.
If you try again, the app must ask for your permission and display a clear warning. This makes things safer and stops unnecessary bank calls.
Tip: Most users don’t access their account list more than a few times a day, so this limit should be safe for regular use.
3. Status Checks: How Many Times Can You Track a Payment?
We all want to know if our payments go through. Sometimes, after sending money, we keep checking the transaction status. Apps too keep polling servers to see if your payment worked. When millions of people do this, it creates a lot of traffic.
The new rule states:
- You can ask for a transaction status only 3 times per transaction.
- There must be a 90-second gap between one check and the next.
- The first status check can only happen after 90 seconds from your transaction attempt.
This will cut down server traffic. Don’t worry, most payments update you quickly anyway.
4. Timings for Recurring Payments (AutoPay)
UPI powers many recurring payments like monthly EMIs, subscription fees, utility bills, and automatic recharges. Until now, these could happen any time. But during busy hours, too many auto payments slowed the system.
From August 1, 2025:
- AutoPay transactions will only go through during certain time slots:
- Before 10:00 AM
- Between 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM
- After 9:30 PM
These are “non-peak” times, meaning the system is less busy.
If an AutoPay fails, the app can retry up to three times in the allowed time window.
Tip: You can still set up new mandates or auto-payments at any hour. However, actual execution (funds getting deducted) will follow the above slots.
5. Better Security When Adding New Bank Accounts
The rule now requires stronger steps to confirm you really own the new account you are linking:
- Your identity will be verified with extra checks.
- You may get new security questions or OTPs.
- The app will validate account ownership in real time.
This keeps your money safe and stops fraud.
6. Inactive UPI IDs Get Deactivated
Sometimes, you stop using your mobile number, or you don’t use UPI for months. That old mobile number may get assigned to someone else. If your UPI stays “active” on that number, it’s a risk.
NPCI has a fix. If you haven’t used UPI with your number for more than 12 months, your UPI ID will get deactivated. Each week, banks and UPI service providers check the NPCI’s updated database to spot unused numbers.
- They will notify you first before removing your UPI ID.
- This stops someone else (with your old number) from sending or receiving money from your bank accounts.
Tip: Just open your UPI app or do a small transaction once a year to keep your UPI ID active.
7. Improved Recipient Name Checking
Before transferring money, you’ll now see the recipient’s official registered name with their bank. The UPI app is not allowed to show any random nicknames or the name from QR codes.
This stops confusion, helps spot wrong UPI IDs, and makes sure your money goes to the right person.
8. Credit Lines Get Added to UPI (From August 31, 2025)
Now, UPI will allow you to link pre-approved credit lines to your account:
- These could be loans backed by fixed deposits, gold, property, shares, or even business loans.
- You can pay from these lines or even draw cash (within limits).
- Daily limits apply:
- ₹1,00,000 for payments
- ₹10,000 cash withdrawal from ATM
- 20 person-to-person payments
You can only spend this money for what the loan was approved for. Banks will watch and block usages not fitting the sanctioned purpose.
9. Faster UPI App Response Times
No one likes waiting for messages like “Processing, please wait.” UPI is cutting delays:
- Most requests to banks (like sending money, checking status, or reversing failed transactions) must now get completed in 10–15 seconds, down from earlier 30 seconds.
- This means payments will feel instant, even as millions of people use UPI together.
10. Penalties for Banks and Apps That Don’t Follow Rules
If a bank or payment app does not follow these new rules, NPCI can:
- Stop them from adding new customers.
- Limit their ability to use important UPI features.
- Even suspend their UPI services in serious cases.
This forces everyone to treat your payments with the attention and safety you deserve.
Who Will Notice These Changes?
- Regular UPI users: If you use UPI a few times a day, these changes are meant to help you! The system will be faster and less likely to fail.
- Power users: People or businesses that check balances or transaction statuses every few minutes will need to change habits. The new caps target those who overload the system.
- Businesses using UPI a lot: Merchants and billers must schedule auto-pay collections outside peak hours to avoid delays.
What You Need to Do
- Don’t worry if you’re a regular user. Most rules target super heavy usage. Your daily life probably won’t change.
- Check how often your apps check balances or ask banks for info. Be sure you’re within the new limits.
- If you set up recurring payments, schedule them around the new time slots.
- Open your UPI app at least once a year to keep your ID active.
- Double check recipient names before sending money, as the app will show their real bank name.
- Wait for notifications about credit lines, and use them only as per the bank’s instructions.
The Bigger Picture: Why These New UPI Rules
- India’s UPI is the largest real-time payment network in the world.
- With over 675 banks and payment apps connected, it must keep working smoothly.
- These rules ensure UPI stays fast, secure, and reliable for everyone.
- They prepare systems to handle even bigger growth; NPCI expects UPI could handle 10 billion payments a month in the near future.
Developers, banks, and merchants now need to build apps that follow these rules. But for most people, life gets easier: fewer errors, faster payments, and better safety.
Switching to digital payments should feel smooth and safe. With these new changes, India’s UPI moves another step toward making cashless payments simple for all. Keep these points in mind, and you’ll be ready for smoother payments in August—and beyond.
