Context:
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), operator of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), will discontinue ‘pull’ transactions (recipient-initiated person-to-person digital payments) from October 31, 2025 to curb rising cases of online payment fraud.
Key Highlights:
- Feature Being Removed:
- ‘Pull’ or ‘collect’ payment method, where the beneficiary initiates the transaction and the payer approves it by entering a UPI PIN.
- Introduced to simplify bill-splitting or payment requests among peers.
- Reason for Removal:
- Increasing misuse by fraudsters posing as merchants or friends to deceive users into approving unintended payments.
- Linked to a surge in online scams and unauthorised fund transfers.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
- Type: Not-for-profit company under the Companies Act, 2013.
- Established: 2008.
- Ownership: Owned by a consortium of major banks; promoted by Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the guidance of RBI and Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.
- Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
- Launched: April 2016 by NPCI.
- Nature: Instant real-time payment system for inter-bank transactions.
- Based on: IMPS (Immediate Payment Service) infrastructure
