Prefer paying online but annoyed by the time digital transactions take? There’s good news for you. Starting Monday, UPI payments have become significantly faster, with transactions, balance checks, and reversals now processing in just 10 to 15 seconds, down from the earlier wait time of up to 30 seconds.The time to validate a payee’s address in a UPI transaction will now be trimmed down to just 10 seconds from the previous 15.This sharp cut in response times across key UPI services follows a directive from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Effective since June 16, this move is part of NPCI’s latest push to improve user experience on the country’s most widely used digital payments platform.In another change, users will now be allowed to check their bank balance via UPI apps up to 50 times a day. Until now, there was no set limit on the number of balance inquiries.The new cap is designed to improve system efficiency and reduce unnecessary load on the network, an expert said, quoted by PTI.UPI, short for Unified Payments Interface, has seen explosive growth. In May alone, the platform processed 1,868 crore transactions, a 33% jump from a year ago. The total value exchanged stood at Rs 25.14 lakh crore, up 23%.To boost customer confidence and reduce risks, NPCI has directed UPI apps to display only the actual beneficiary’s name during transactions.Additionally, apps must disable any feature that lets users edit the ‘beneficiary name’ within the interface.All stakeholders in the UPI ecosystem are required to comply with these norms by June 30.
