New Delhi, December 30: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has issued a directive to payment applications to deactivate Unified Payments Interface (UPI) IDs of Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm and others that have remained inactive for over a year as of December 31. This measure is intended to prevent accidental money transfers in cases where customers change their mobile numbers without unlinking their old numbers from the banking system.

According to a report in Livemint, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) allows telecom companies to reassign deactivated mobile numbers to new subscribers after a 90-day period. This could potentially lead to unintentional transfers if users fail to update the mobile number linked to their bank account. Consequently, Third Party App Providers (TPAPs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) are mandated to act by December 31, 2023. NPCI New Guideline: Google Pay, PhonePe and Other Payment Apps May Deactivate Your UPI ID, Know Why and How to Prevent It From Happening.

Users of any UPI app, including Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, among others, are advised to ensure that their ID has not been dormant for more than a year. They should also verify all phone numbers associated with their UPI IDs and confirm that none have been inactive for over three months. UPI Transactions Crosses 10 Billion Monthly Transactions Mark for the First Time: NPCI Data.

The NPCI circular instructs TPAPs and PSP banks to identify UPI IDs, associated UPI numbers, and phone numbers of customers who have not performed any financial or non-financial transactions for a year via UPI apps.

The UPI IDs and UPI numbers of such customers will be disabled for inward credit transactions, and the corresponding phone numbers will be deregistered from the UPI mapper.

Customers with blocked UPI IDs and phone numbers for inward credit transactions will need to re-register in their UPI apps to reconnect their UPI. They can continue to make payments and non-financial transactions using their UPI PIN as needed.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 30, 2023 12:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).