Surge in Requests From Certain Banks Causes Significant Transaction Failures
On April 12, 2025, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) revealed that an overload of requests from some banks had caused a major slowdown in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system, resulting in a dramatic decline in transaction success rates. The disruption, which impacted numerous popular payment platforms, left users unable to complete transactions, causing frustration and raising questions about the reliability of India’s premier digital payment service.
UPI Outage: A Result of Excessive API Usage
NPCI, the organization responsible for overseeing UPI transactions, traced the root cause of the problem to excessive usage of the “Check Transaction” application programming interface (API). This API is commonly used by Payment Service Provider (PSP) banks to verify the status of transactions before finalizing them. According to NPCI, on April 12, several banks flooded the system with a higher-than-usual number of API requests, including for older transactions. These requests came in rapid succession and without waiting for previous requests to be processed, overwhelming the system.
The situation was particularly severe between 11:40 am and 4:40 pm, during which time UPI’s transaction success rate plummeted to 50 percent for two hours. For the next three hours, it struggled to stabilize and only managed to reach around 80 percent success, still well below expected levels. These figures indicate the gravity of the situation and highlight the scale of the outage that disrupted day-to-day financial operations for millions of users across India.
Bank’s Overuse of “Check Transaction” API Raises Concerns
NPCI’s communication to partner banks emphasized that the surge in API requests significantly clogged the system. The “Check Transaction” API was meant to check transaction statuses, but its overuse caused congestion, with banks not allowing adequate time between requests. As a result, the system couldn’t handle the volume and began to slow down, creating delays and failed transactions.
NPCI attempted to address the issue by isolating certain sites according to standard protocols. However, the fix was only partially effective. The outages continued to affect major payment platforms like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, as well as a variety of banking apps. Users attempting to complete payments were met with error messages or were unable to proceed with transactions entirely. This led to widespread frustration and concerns about the reliability of digital payments during such peak usage periods.
NPCI Implements Temporary Fix, Calls for Action From Affected Banks
By around 4:15 pm on April 12, NPCI managed to implement a temporary fix that restored transaction success rates to normal levels by 4:40 pm. This quick response helped reduce the severity of the disruption, but the cause of the overload was still a matter of concern. NPCI has urged the involved PSP banks to immediately halt the excessive use of the “Check Transaction” API in order to avoid further issues. This measure will help prevent similar congestion from occurring in the future.
The banking regulator’s swift action reflects its growing awareness of the critical need to maintain the integrity of India’s digital payment systems. With the UPI system playing an increasingly central role in the country’s cashless economy, ensuring its reliability has become a top priority.
What’s Next for UPI?
Despite the temporary nature of the fix, the incident has raised important questions about the scalability of UPI’s infrastructure, particularly under high usage conditions. With millions of transactions happening simultaneously, it’s clear that certain banks may need to improve their internal systems to prevent future overloads of UPI’s transaction checking system.
In light of these disruptions, NPCI has started planning additional fixes to the API and overall UPI architecture. The organization is likely to introduce measures that will optimize the use of the “Check Transaction” API to ensure smoother, more reliable transaction flows. These updates are expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks, as NPCI works closely with banking partners to refine the system’s resilience.
The UPI system, which has become a cornerstone of India’s digital payment ecosystem, has gained massive popularity due to its ease of use, speed, and accessibility. However, as the system grows, so too do the complexities of maintaining a robust infrastructure that can handle peak traffic periods without faltering.
The Impact on Users and the Need for Enhanced Reliability
For users of digital payment platforms, the April 12 outage was a reminder of the vulnerability that exists within even the most advanced systems. In a country where UPI is the primary method for making payments, delays or failed transactions can have a ripple effect, impacting everything from personal transactions to business operations.
The disruption also highlighted a gap in communication between NPCI, PSP banks, and end users. Many users were left in the dark about what caused the issues or how long it would take to resolve them. Going forward, NPCI may need to improve its communication strategies during system outages to ensure that users and banks are better informed during times of disruption.
As UPI continues to drive the adoption of digital payments across India, NPCI’s ability to mitigate technical challenges will be key in ensuring that users can trust the system, especially during high-volume events such as festivals, shopping seasons, or nationwide sales. If the system is to continue to thrive, investment in both infrastructure and communication will be essential to prevent outages from negatively affecting the user experience.
