UPI 123Pay transaction limit increased to ₹10,000 and UPI Lite wallet limit increased to ₹5,000

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday (October 9) announced changes in transaction limits of UPI 123 and UPI Lite wallet.

During the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies announcement, Das said that the per-transaction limit for UPI 123Pay will be increased from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000, while the UPI Lite wallet limit will rise from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000.

UPI123 was launched in March 2022, which allows users to make digital payments without an internet connection, is designed to help people in areas with limited internet access. It enables feature-phone users to use UPI. This facility is now available in 12 languages.

UPI 123Pay, which allows users to make digital payments without an internet connection, is designed to help people in areas with limited internet access.

The decision to increase these limits is part of the RBI’s strategy to make UPI more inclusive and accessible. “In order to widen the use-cases, in consultation with the stakeholders, it has been decided to enhance the per-transaction limit to ₹10,000. Necessary instructions will be issued to NPCI shortly” said RBI.

Additionally, the UPI Lite wallet limit has been raised from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000, and the per-transaction limit for UPI Lite has also been enhanced, increasing from ₹100 to ₹500. A limit of ₹500 per transaction and an overall limit of ₹2000 per UPI Lite wallet are presently applicable, with the facility of auto-replenishment. “To widen the scope of usage of this product, it has now been decided to increase the UPI Lite wallet limit to ₹5,000 and per-transaction limit to ₹1,000,” the statement said. The Framework for facilitating small value payments in offline digital mode, issued by the Reserve Bank, under which UPI Lite has been enabled, will be suitably amended, it said.

Introduction of beneficiary account name look-up facility:

Payment Systems like UPI and IMPS provide a facility for the remitter to verify the name of the receiver (beneficiary) before initiating a payment transaction. There have been requests to introduce such a facility for Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) systems.

Accordingly, to enable remitters in RTGS and NEFT to verify the name of the beneficiary account holder before initiating a funds transfer, it is now proposed to introduce a ‘beneficiary account name look-up facility’. Remitters can input the account number and the branch IFSC code of the beneficiary, following which the name of the beneficiary will be displayed. This facility will increase customer confidence as it would reduce the possibility of wrong credits and frauds. “Detailed guidelines will be issued separately”, said RBI.