NPCI Puts an End to UPI Collect Requests to Enhance Security

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will ban peer-to-peer collect requests on UPI from October 2025 to curb financial fraud. This move will transition all P2P transactions to payer-initiated actions, enhancing security and user control in digital payments.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has instructed banks and payment apps to halt all peer-to-peer (P2P) 'collect requests' on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) starting October 1, 2025. This directive aims to address ongoing issues related to financial fraud.

According to an NPCI circular dated July 29, all member banks, payment service providers, and UPI apps must adjust their systems to ensure no P2P collect transaction is processed beyond the deadline. Major platforms like PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm will be affected by this policy change.

Rahul Jain, CFO of NTT DATA Payment Services India, highlighted that this decision will enhance UPI's security by eliminating a high-risk channel. With user-initiated 'push' transactions becoming the norm, consumers will enjoy more control and transparency, bolstering trust in digital payments, emphasized Reeju Datta, co-founder of Cashfree Payments.

(With inputs from agencies.)