Nationwide UPI Disruption Halts Digital Transactions Across India

A significant technical glitch disrupted the Unified Payments Interface across India on March 26, leaving millions unable to complete digital transactions. The outage, which began around 7:50 PM, affected major payment platforms including Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe. The National Payments Corporation of India acknowledged the issue and reported that services were restored by approximately 8:15 PM.

Users across the country reported failed transactions and service unavailability during the downtime. According to Downdetector, a platform that monitors online service disruptions, complaints peaked at around 7:40 PM, with approximately 2,750 users affected. The majority of issues were related to payment transactions, followed by fund transfers and app-related problems .

NPCI addressed the situation through a statement on social media platform X , stating,“NPCI had faced intermittent technical issues owing to which UPI had partial decline. The same has been addressed now and the system has stabilised. Regret the inconvenience.” However, the organisation did not specify the exact cause of the outage or the duration of the disruption.

The outage had a widespread impact, affecting various banks and digital payment platforms. Users of the State Bank of India reported difficulties, with 376 complaints logged on Downdetector. Similarly, Google Pay and Paytm users faced challenges, with 296 and 119 complaints respectively. Many users took to social media to express their frustration and share their experiences.

Anupam Mittal, founder of Shaadi and a judge on Shark Tank India, criticised NPCI on social media regarding the outage. In a post on X, Mittal stated,“Digital payments via #UPI continue to struggle after 24 hrs while we have media reporting it was down only for an hour. Increasingly problem solving is becoming problem spinning @NPCI_NPCI solve karo pls Desh ke GDP ka sawaal hai.”

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