From Feb 1, UPI transactions will fail for IDs with special characters
From Feb 1, UPI IDs with special characters will be declined under NPCI's new rule;
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Mumbai: Effective February 1, Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transaction ID containing special characters such as @, %, # and $ shall be declined as per a circular by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).
Banks and payment apps have been advised to use only alphanumeric characters for generating UPI transaction IDs. However, do not confuse it with your UPI ID containing special characters that will continue to remain unaffected and will be functional.
"UPI ecosystem players were advised to use only alphanumeric characters for generating UPI transaction ID. This is to ensure compliance with UPI technical specifications," said the NPCI January 9 circular.
The NPCI this month stated that while most participants in the UPI ecosystem have already complied with the technical standards, a few continue to use non-compliant formats.
“Considering the criticality of compliance to the specifications, it has been decided not to allow any special characters in UPI transaction ID. Any transaction with ID containing special characters shall be declined by the central system,” it added.
According to data released by NPCI, UPI has become one of the most popular digital payment systems in India, with transaction volumes hitting a record high of 16.73 billion in December 2024, an 8 per cent increase from the previous month.