Nationwide UPI Service Disruption Due to Technical Issues
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Synopsis
On April 12, 2023, the UPI service faced a nationwide outage, disrupting digital payments for millions. The NPCI attributed the issues to technical difficulties and is working on a resolution. This incident follows a surge in UPI transaction volumes, reflecting the ongoing digital payments revolution in India.
Key Takeaways
- UPI service outage affected millions of users.
- Major banking apps like SBI, ICICI, and HDFC were impacted.
- NPCI cited technical issues as the cause.
- UPI transactions saw a significant rise in March.
- Cash transactions highlighted during the outage.
New Delhi, April 12 (NationPress) The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service experienced a significant nationwide outage on Saturday, impacting millions of users.
Various digital services across multiple online payment platforms were interrupted, affecting local shopping, bill payments, and business transactions.
As per the outage monitoring platform Down Detector, there were 2,358 reports by 1 pm, with the majority of issues related to payments (81 percent) and fund transfers (17 percent).
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), responsible for UPI operations, indicated that these disruptions stemmed from technical difficulties.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, the NPCI noted, "We are currently experiencing intermittent technical issues, resulting in partial declines of UPI transactions."
“We are actively working to rectify the issue and will provide updates accordingly. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,” they added.
Major banking applications, including those from SBI, ICICI, and HDFC, were also impacted, suggesting a larger concern within the UPI network infrastructure.
One affected user expressed on X, “UPI is down again. Good thing I always carry cash. Cash is still King.”
Another user commented, “This is happening way too often now. First, UPI goes down, then banks announce their own ‘downtime’ for UPI transactions.”
According to the latest NPCI data, UPI observed a 13.59 percent month-on-month increase in transaction volume, reaching 18.3 billion in March, up from 16.11 billion in February.
March also recorded a staggering Rs 24.77 lakh crore worth of UPI transactions, showing a 12.79 percent rise from Rs 21.96 lakh crore in February.
The UPI network processed more than 590 million average transactions daily, accumulating a daily transaction value of Rs 79,910 crore, based on NPCI statistics.
Year-over-year, the record UPI transactions in March, amounting to Rs 24.77 lakh crore, exhibited a 25 percent increase in value and an impressive 36 percent growth in volume, reflecting the unstoppable progress of India’s digital payment revolution.
UPI demonstrated strong growth in both person-to-person (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) payments.
