New Delhi: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced new operational guidelines for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), imposing daily limits on certain functions such as account balance checks and failed transaction attempts.

The revised norms will come into force from August 1.

UPI, launched by NPCI in 2016, is a real-time payment system that enables instant money transfers between bank accounts via mobile applications. It allows users to link multiple bank accounts to a single app and operates 24/7.

According to NPCI, users will now be permitted to check their bank account balance a maximum of 50 times per day. Similarly, viewing the list of linked bank accounts will be restricted to 25 times a day.

“These measures are aimed at reducing server load and enhancing the overall system efficiency,” the NPCI said in a statement.

Further, auto-debit transactions—used for recurring payments such as subscriptions or EMIs—will now be scheduled to take place during specific time windows: before 10 AM, between 1 PM and 5 PM, and after 9:30 PM.

The number of retries allowed for failed transactions has also been capped at three per day. Additionally, apps will now prominently display the name of the intended recipient before a transaction is completed, to prevent misdirected payments.

NPCI has cautioned that accounts failing to comply with UPI or bank-related norms may attract penalties.

The changes will apply across all UPI-enabled applications, including Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, the statement added.