UPI Update: NPCI issues circular for third-party UPI apps like Google Pay, Paytm, these users will not be able to do transactions till December 31..

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has given an important message for third-party UPI apps like Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe.

In a recently issued circular, NPCI has asked third-party apps and banks to deactivate those UPI IDs and numbers that have been inactive for more than a year. Let us tell you, that NPCI is a non-profit organization that operates retail payment and settlement systems in India.

NPCI issued circular
NPCI said that as per the circular, the decision has been taken to prevent inadvertent transfer of money to customers if they change their mobile number without delinking their old number from the banking system. A possibility exists where the old mobile number can be released to the new issuer.

Recently, the Supreme Court has held that mobile phone service providers cannot be prevented from reallocating inactive/disconnected numbers to new customers after the expiry of the statutory 90-day period.

Third-party app providers will have to do this work
As per the new guidelines in the circular, Third Party App Providers (TPPs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) will have to do the following and implement the same by December 31, 2023. All TPAP and PSP banks have been asked to identify the UPI ID and associated UPI number and phone number of those customers who have not done any financial (debit or credit) or non-financial transactions through UPI apps for 1 year.

     The UPI ID and UPI number of such customers will be disabled for inward credit transactions. This means that they will not be able to receive money on these numbers. Additionally, PSPs will also deregister the same phone number from UPI.
     Customers who have an incoming credit block on their UPI ID and phone number will need to re-register in their UPI app for UPI Mapper linkage. Payments and non-financial transactions can be done using UPI PIN as per requirement.

     UPI apps will perform requester verification (ReqValAd) before initiating 'Pay-to-Contact' and 'Pay to Mobile Number'. UPI apps will display the name of the customer which is taken before initiating the transaction and will not display the name which is stored at the end of the app.