From Feb 1, UPI transactions will fail for IDs with special characters

Mumbai: Effective February 1, any transaction done with a Unified Payment Interface ID containing special characters shall be declined as per the latest circular by the National Payment Corporation of India. Any UPI ID containing special characters such as @, %, #, and $ will be considered non-compliant and may be blocked from performing financial transactions. It’s also recommended to stick to UPI applications downloaded from trusted sources such as Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store, as third-party apps may not always adhere to NPCI guidelines. 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 percent increase from the previous month.