Are your UPI transactions faster? Here's the reason

Indian consumers can now expect faster UPI payments, particularly for merchant transactions, following new guidelines from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) that significantly reduce response times for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) APIs.

The updated protocols, effective June 16, aim to enhance transaction speed and reliability across platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM, Amazon Pay, and Cred.

NPCI has revised the response times for key UPI APIs from up to 30 seconds to as low as 10 seconds. These changes apply to APIs involved in initiating payments, checking transaction status, validating addresses, and handling reversals. For example, requests like “Check transaction status” and “Transaction reversal” must now be processed within 10 seconds, down from the earlier 30 seconds, according to the NPCI circular dated April 26, 2025.

In the circular, NPCI stated that the updates were aimed at “improving the customer experience” and asked member banks to make the necessary technical adjustments to meet the new time thresholds. It also cautioned against these changes negatively impacting technical decline thresholds.

The Economic Times cited Rahul Jain, CFO of NTT DATA Payment Services India, as saying the faster processing time will allow remitter and beneficiary banks to communicate more efficiently. “Now the remitter and beneficiary banks will communicate amongst themselves faster and hence the transaction’s status will be updated faster,” Jain said. “If earlier it took 30 seconds to process a UPI transaction, now it could take 15 seconds. So in the same 30 seconds, two transactions can be completed instead of just one.”

According to the updated response timeline, APIs such as “Request Pay” and “Response Pay” must now process requests in 15 seconds instead of 30. For “Check transaction status,” “Transaction reversal,” and “Validate Address” functions, the new time limit is 10 seconds.

Vishal Maru, global processing head at Financial Software and Systems, said the update is a response to growing transaction volumes on the UPI platform. “Consumers will now receive faster transaction confirmations, particularly during reversals or collection requests, instances that usually induce stress,” he said.

Maru added that reducing response time also decreases retry storms at the system level, which can lead to congestion and timeout errors. “By narrowing response windows, UPI is evolving into a self-regulating and failure-resistant network,” he said. “Even smaller and regional banks will benefit during peak hours.”

While faster API cycles could increase system costs in the short term, Maru said long-term benefits would include reduced strain on databases and improved efficiency. “Although initial expenditures may see a slight increase, the cost per transaction is anticipated to decrease over time,” he said.

India currently handles over 1,300 crore digital transactions monthly, with UPI making up the largest share. NPCI aims to scale this figure to 1,000 crore UPI transactions per month by 2026.