There is going to be a big change in UPI transactions from April 1, 2025. Unified Payment Interface (UPI) is going to close UPI accounts linked to inactive mobile from April 1. In such a situation, if you have a phone number that is linked to the bank account but has been inactive for a long time, then get it activated immediately, otherwise you may face problems in the future. UPI is also going to remove such numbers that have been allotted to another person after being closed. This change will affect those users, whose bank account has an old or closed number linked.

UPI's regulatory body National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) has instructed banks and payment service providers to delink such mobile numbers. At the same time, NPCI may also close the pull transaction feature soon.

Objective to prevent cyber fraud
NCPI has taken this step to prevent cyber fraud. Telecom companies often allot inactive or closed numbers to new customers. In such a situation, the risk of fraud in the old bank account linked to that number increases. Keeping this danger in mind, NPCI has instructed banks as well as all UPI apps including Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm to identify inactive mobile numbers every week and remove them from their system. This means that if your mobile number remains inactive for a long time, it will be automatically removed from UPI.

Users will be sent an alert message to stop UPI service. Despite the warning, if the mobile number remains inactive, the process of removing it from the UPI system will be started.

NPCI may remove the pull transaction feature

According to NPCI, cases of fraud are also increasing due to "pull transactions" through UPI. In such a situation, NPCI is preparing to set a limit on the pull transaction feature in payment apps or remove it. However, no official information has been revealed about when and how it will be implemented.

What is the pull transaction feature?

This is the collect payment feature of UPI in which the merchant demands payment from the customer. In simple terms, when you choose the option of your favorite UPI app for payment while shopping online, you automatically reach that UPI app where you see the payment amount and have to approve it by entering the PIN. As soon as it is approved, the money goes to the account of the person who sent the request for the amount. This feature of UPI is called the "pull payment" feature, through which merchants can receive payments from customers. Common people do not use this feature much but it is used a lot in business. Scammers are misusing this feature of UPI and are cheating people of money by sending payment requests.

There is talk of promoting "push transactions" instead of pull transactions. When a user transfers an amount through UPI by scanning a QR code or by directly entering a mobile number, it is called a "push transaction". In such transactions, the customer himself feeds the amount to be paid in his UPI app. There are fewer chances of fraud in such transactions because the user knows that he is going to pay the amount.

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