All UPI transactions which carry special characters will be declined from Feb 1: NPCI

STC BUSINESS DESK
JANUARY 29 (STC):
All of us are aware that UPI app generates a transaction ID as one transfers the money. These IDs are supposed to be alphanumeric only but sometimes, they can have special characters too. From February 1 onwards, all those UPI transactions which carry special characters will be declined by the central system, said NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) in its latest circular regarding UPI transactions.
The circular dated January 9 mentioned that UPI ecosystem players were advised to use only alphanumeric characters for generating UPI transactions ID. This was done to ensure compliance with UPI technical specifications.
The National Payments Interface of India pointed out that the issue has largely been resolved but a few of the participants continue to be non-compliant.
In view of the criticality of compliance to the specifications, the NPCI has decided not to allow any special characters inUPI transaction ID and has advised all participating entities to take note of this and ensure compliance.
Notably, payments through UPI have risen quite fast in the past few years, particularly since demonetisation in 2016.
The latest data shows that UPI transactions hit a record 16.73 billion in December 2024. This is eight percent higher than November’s data, which recorded 15.48 billion transactions.
In terms of value, December figure stood at ₹23.25 lakh crore, which was significantly higher than ₹21.55 lakh crore in November. (STC)