The Payments Council of India has confirmed that Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services will continue to be free for consumers and small merchants, despite a recent Lok Sabha Bill. This clarification addresses concerns about potential charges, emphasising that while a sustainable financial model for UPI infrastructure is being developed, transaction charges will not be passed on to users or small businesses.
Parliament was informed that UPI has onboarded 55.49 crore users by June 2026, with transactions reaching 24,162 crore in volume and Rs 314 lakh crore in value in FY 2025-26. The platform, operated by NPCI, is expanding internationally through NIPL, facilitating cross-border payments and assisting other nations in building similar systems. Significant efforts are also underway by the Government, RBI, and NPCI to enhance the security and transparency of UPI transactions, including risk-based limits, security frameworks, and public awareness campaigns against cyber-crime.
A Delhi court has denied bail to Raj Kumar, an accused in an inter-state child trafficking racket, emphasising that child trafficking is a "heinous scourge" and an "onslaught on the moral conscience of civilised society." The court highlighted the vulnerability of children and the commercialisation of infants, noting that the complainant's newborn is still missing and the accused's wife has prior involvement in similar cases.
Bhubaneswar police have busted a fraudulent digital escort service racket, arresting four individuals for allegedly misusing women's photographs on social media and cheating customers through online payments. The investigation, initiated by a woman's complaint, led to the seizure of digital evidence and a public advisory against such scams.
The new UPI IDs will follow formats such as abc.bkr@validhdfc or xyz.mf@validhdfc. For easier recognition, they will also carry a white 'thumbs up' icon inside a green triangle.
Cash payments will be discontinued at toll plazas on national highways from April 10, with FASTag as the primary mode of payment and UPI as a fallback option at a higher charge.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached properties worth Rs 1.06 crore in connection with the 'Global Media App' fraud, an online earning platform that allegedly generated over Rs 45 crore through illicit means.
'There is a debit execution failure which is because there is not enough money in the user's bank account.'
Kerala Police have issued a warning about a new form of cyber fraud targeting people buying mattresses online. Fraudsters pose as fake customer care representatives of mattress companies and pressure customers into making immediate payments.
The CBI has registered an FIR in the alleged murder of Chandranath Rath, an aide to West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, taking over the investigation from the state police following a request from the state government.
Telangana CID arrests 11 individuals, including an Afghan national, for allegedly operating online betting across multiple states through the Dafabet platform. The investigation revealed a complex network of mule accounts and a coordinated multi-state criminal operation.
Police in Lucknow have arrested four people for allegedly using ChatGPT and graphic design software to create and sell fake IPL tickets outside the Ekana Stadium.
The CBI is investigating the murder of Suvendu Adhikari's aide, Chandranath Rath, suspecting it was a meticulously planned contract killing. The investigation involves forensic analysis and examination of potential interstate criminal links.
Police in Jajpur, Odisha, have arrested five individuals, including a woman and her lover, in connection with the murder of her husband. The investigation revealed a complex web of relationships, leading to a planned execution.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed several measures to develop a more conducive framework for the long-term growth of Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs), including enhanced transaction security and clearer rules on refunds and grievance redressal.
Traders in Karnataka are raising concerns over GST demand notices based on UPI transaction data. A tax official defends the action, stating it's within the law and recipients can respond with documentation.
UPI has catapulted India into the forefront on the global digital payments landscape. Working hand in hand, the AePS payments system is making life easy for rural folks, notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Customers will qualify for compensation even if they mistakenly share the OTP.
From April 1, 2026, the Reserve Bank of India's new authentication directions modernise how every digital payment you make must be verified -- and place the burden of security squarely on your bank, not on you.
In its June 2025 review, the International Monetary Fund spotlighted India's Unified Payments Interface as the world's most dominant retail instant-payment network, moving more transactions than any other system on the globe.
"We currently manage collections for over 98 million retail and small-business loan accounts, covering a loan book of about $250 billion," says Rishabh Goel, cofounder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Credgenics, a software-as-a-service platform for debt collection. With more than 700 million smartphone users and over 450 million UPI users, digital access is everywhere.
'Just like oral hygiene, cyber hygiene must become a daily habit,' says Beena Vaheed, executive director, Bank of Baroda. 'It is not enough to rely only on banks, companies, or the government. Each of us must play our part.'
'A credit line on UPI is going to make banks think about credit fundamentally as they digitise the credit process entirely.'
As deposit growth lags credit expansion, Indian banks face shrinking low-cost Casa inflows, rising funding costs, and structural shifts driven by UPI, e-Kuber, and digital savings trends, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Nearly 7 out of every 10 P2M UPI transactions take place in high frequency categories like groceries, restaurants, pharmacies, fuel service stations, bakeries and utility services such as electricity, gas, water and sanitation.
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against 17 people, including four Chinese nationals, and 58 companies for their alleged roles in a transnational cyber fraud network that siphoned off over Rs 1,000 crore.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday exhorted the fledgling fintech ecosystem to focus on the underserved sections of the society to deepen financial inclusion. Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Malhotra accepted that serving the "privileged" will be a lucrative business, but urged the smaller companies to focus on the underserved.
Investors will be able to authenticate if the entity receiving the payment is a valid entity under the ambit of Sebi.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
A 32-year-old Delhi resident was allegedly duped of over Rs 9 lakh by a person posing as the chief of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and accusing him of being involved in the Pulwama terror attack.
Eying benefits from digital banking, lenders are now looking at building Unified Recovery Interface (URI) for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and getting good prices for properties of defaulters. This would be managed by PSB Alliance Ltd, a company set up by all public sector banks in the country. M V Rao, chairman, Indian Banks' Association (IBA), said: "Till now we had Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a product developed by National Payments Corporation Ltd (NPCI).
The implementation of this toll collection system, which will eventually eradicate toll booths, necessitates the fitting of an on-board unit (OBU) in every vehicle that can track a vehicle's location in real time.
'Instead of the government and telecom operators solving the mess of their own creation, they're telling us we need to give access to our phones perpetually.'
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has frozen Rs 110 crore and seized 1,200 mule credit cards following searches against the Indian operations of Parimatch, a Cyprus-based online betting platform, for alleged money laundering and cheating investors.
'One has to be very mindful because it will be applicable for big tech platforms and even for banks and insurers, whose business is completely different.'
Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday said payments through UPI (unified payment interface) have grown exponentially in the past 12 months with daily transactions crossing 36 crore, which is up 50 per cent from 24 crore in February 2022. In value terms, these transactions are worth Rs 6.27 lakh crore, registering a growth of 17 per cent from Rs 5.36 lakh crore in February 2022, the governor told reporters while launching the Digital Payments Awareness Week at the RBI headquarters in Mumbai this afternoon. He also said the overall monthly digital payment transactions crossed over Rs 1,000-crore-mark each month during the past three months.
Doctors found scratch marks on the body of Monojit Mishra, the arrested prime accused in the gang rape of a student at a Kolkata law college, a well-placed police source said on Tuesday.
Fraudsters lure individuals with false promises of recovering bonuses or maturity proceeds from lapsed policies.
'The Bhashini Mission has delivered a working technology at large scale, which is as good as or better than the one with MNC tech giants.'
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
