RBI Proposes to Increase UPI Lite Transaction Limit and Wallet Capacity

Mumbai, October 9: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed raising the transaction limit for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Lite to ₹1,000 and increasing the wallet capacity to ₹5,000. This move aims to further enhance the popularity of UPI, which has become a widely accepted digital payment system in India. Currently, the transaction limit for UPI Lite is ₹500, with a wallet capacity of ₹2,000. The RBI is expected to issue detailed guidelines on these changes soon.

During a review of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) over a three-day meeting, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das emphasized the transformative impact of UPI on India’s financial landscape, making digital payments easier and more inclusive. He noted that the RBI's framework for UPI Lite would be revised to facilitate low-value offline digital payments. Additionally, the "UPI 123 Pay" service will now be available in 12 regional languages.

To further promote UPI usage and make it more inclusive, Das announced that the per-transaction limit for UPI 123 Pay would be increased from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000. The UPI wallet limit would be raised from ₹2,000 to ₹5,000, and the per-transaction limit for UPI Lite would be increased to ₹1,000. 

Furthermore, Das mentioned that the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) and Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems would introduce a recipient name verification feature, similar to UPI and Immediate Payment Service (IMPS). This will help verify the beneficiary’s name before finalizing fund transfers.

The RBI Governor highlighted that currently, UPI and IMPS offer the ability to verify the recipient’s name before completing a transaction. Soon, this feature will also be available for RTGS and NEFT transactions, reducing the chances of sending funds to the wrong person and preventing potential fraud. The RBI will issue guidelines on these updates shortly.