As part of its efforts to simplify and standardize digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has rolled out new guidelines for transaction IDs in its Unified Payments Interface (UPI). From February 1, 2025, the central system will block UPI transaction IDs that contain special characters like **#, @, $, or ***. Such transactions will also be declined.
What’s Changing About UPI Transaction IDs?
The NPCI, which oversees India’s retail payment systems, issued a circular on January 9, 2025, advising all UPI ecosystem players to generate transaction IDs using only alphanumeric characters that include letters from A-Z and numbers from 0-9. This will ensure compliance with the UPI technical specifications, thus making the digital transactions much more efficient.
Considering the criticality of compliance with the specifications, it has been decided not to allow any special characters in the UPI transaction ID. Any transaction with an ID containing special characters shall be declined by the central system, ” the circular stated.
To facilitate error-free processes of UPI and standardization in the operations of NPCI, the board of NPCI is now set to restrict transactions done through it. Special characters often include the usage of marks like punctuation or symbols, causing a technical failure or compatibility with another platform due to which alphanumeric character restrictions would ensure a free payment experience devoid of errors.
What Should Be Done by Customers?
If you’re using a UPI app that generates transaction IDs with special characters, you’ll need to switch to an app that complies with the new guidelines.
Most major UPI apps, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, are already aligned with NPCI’s technical specifications and should not be affected. However, users are advised to check their transaction IDs to ensure they meet the new requirements.
UPI’s Dominance in Digital Payments
The UPI platform has grown to become the backbone of the digital payment system in India and has reached up to 83% of total digital transactions during 2024, compared with 34% in 2019.
These exponential growth percentages have been triggered by ease and widespread adoption for transaction volumes rising from 375 crore in 2018 to 17,221 crore during 2024. The cumulative value of these transactions has grown from ₹5.86 lakh crore in 2018 to ₹246.83 lakh crore in 2024.
The new guidelines show NPCI’s commitment to maintaining the robustness and reliability of the UPI system. As India continues to lead the global digital payments revolution, such measures will ensure that UPI remains a secure, efficient, and user-friendly platform for millions of users.
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