The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) released a new notification earlier this month outlining compliance guidelines for the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). Effective February 1, any transaction identifiers (IDs) that include special characters will be rejected. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort to align with the technical specifications of UPI, which were first introduced in March 2024. UPI platforms that continue to utilize special characters in transaction IDs can expect a significant increase in transaction failures.
NPCI Introduces Compliance Guidelines for UPI Platforms
In a notification dated January 9, NPCI elaborated on the new compliance guidelines. Initially, guidelines were laid out on March 28, 2024, advising the entire UPI ecosystem to refrain from using special characters in transaction IDs. In the current notification, NPCI noted that while significant progress has been made, some participants still remain non-compliant.
The NPCI has now established a firm deadline of Saturday, February 1. After this date, transaction IDs featuring special characters will not be processed, leading to payment declines.
This compliance requirement does not necessitate any action from end users. However, both merchants and users need to ensure that their transaction IDs exclude special characters to avoid payment issues. Additionally, updating UPI applications to the latest version can help mitigate any unforeseen glitches or bugs.
NPCI emphasized its commitment to assisting the UPI ecosystem over the past year to adapt to these new guidelines. The shift to simple alphanumeric characters aims to simplify transaction IDs, facilitating easier storage and tracking of transactions.
Moreover, UPI transaction IDs are required to be unique and consist of 35 characters to comply with NPCI’s technical standards. This requirement also extends to banks and other payment service providers within the UPI framework.
