Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe Users Beware: UPI Access to End for Some

The NPCI has decided to deactivate UPI IDs associated with inactive mobile numbers from April 1, 2025, to strengthen security and mitigate potential fraud risks. Users of digital payment platforms such as Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe with inactive mobile numbers or mobile numbers reassigned by the operators will lose such UPI services.

Why Is NPCI Taking This Step?

NPCI states that inactive mobile numbers associated with UPI IDs pose a security threat. Majorly, users change or deactivate a mobile number without updating their bank details, making such numbers easy targets for misuse. In case reallocation happens for such a number, fraudsters can gain unauthorized access to the respective UPI accounts. Therefore, to mitigate this risk, NPCI has advised banks and PSPs to keep track of and remove inactive numbers from the UPI network regularly.

Who Will Lose Access to UPI Services?

As a result, the next class of users who are going to be affected is:

• Users who have changed their mobile contacts but have not updated them with their bank.
• Users who deactivate their mobile numbers without intimating to their bank.
• UPI users whose mobile numbers have been transferred to another person.
• Users whose mobile numbers have become disabled due to inactivity, owing to no calls, messages, or other services along that number.

How to Avoid Losing UPI Access?

Users should follow the below steps to ensure they can access UPI services seamlessly:

•    Verify that the mobile number associated with the bank account is active. In case it has become inactive, reactivate it now.
•    Updating Bank Records with any new mobile number.
•    Obtain a new mobile number and link it to a bank account before April 1st if it is inactive.

What Will Banks and Payment Apps Do?

All banks and PSPs must comply:

• Time-to-time verification of the UPI database for removal of non-active, reassigned, and deactivated numbers.
• A study on mobile numbers flagged inactive by the telecom operators and listed in the Mobile Number Revocation List.
• Users should be intimated regarding possible UPI service deactivation before removing their IDs from the system.
• Continue UPI access for those who update their mobile numbers before the April 1 deadline.

Security Concerns Behind the Move

The latest move by NPCI comes in times when the concerns regarding fraud through digital payments are on the rise. The reports and cases have come up indicating that fraudsters are exploiting the inactive UPI IDs and using them as a target for unauthorized access into the fund. To utilize inactive mobile numbers, the NPCI efforts will be made to strengthen the security framework for UPI and protect individuals from future risks associated with it.

Update your mobile numbers with banks right now so you do not experience any disruption to your UPI activities.

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