‘Moving towards cash again?’ UPI down in India for 3rd time within a month

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), among the globe’s fastest repayment systems, encountered an additional significant failure on Saturday (April 12), noting 3rd such disturbance within a month.

Downdetector revealed individuals reporting the failure beginning 11:26 am IST. Several individuals likewise required to X and Facebook to share their aggravation as their purchases fell down mid-way on repayment systems such as PhonePe, Google Pay and Paytm.

UPI-maker the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) later on recognized the records and mentioned “intermittent technical issues” for the failure. In its declaration, the NPCI claimed it was functioning to fix the problem.

“NPCI is currently facing intermittent technical issues, leading to partial UPI transaction declines. We are working to resolve the issue, and will keep you updated,” the regulatory authority claimed.

The Saturday failure is thought to have actually triggered disturbances to solutions of significant financial institutions like HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Previous UPI disturbances

The UPI was struck by a significant grab on March 26 as the individuals across the country encountered troubles finishing their purchases.

The NPCI in a declaration later on claimed, “NPCI had faced intermittent technical issues owing to which UPI had partial decline. The same has been addressed now and the system has stabilised. Regret the inconvenience.”

The second such outage was observed on April 2.

Why is UPI significant?

According to a report by digital payments company Phi Commerce, UPI now accounts for 65 per cent of all digital transactions in India — making it a true game-changer in the world of payments.

While UPI is the go-to option for small to medium purchases (like tea, groceries, or your go-to street momo guy), credit cards and EMIs are still popular for big-ticket expenses.

The report also highlights that people lean heavily on credit during certain times — like festive seasons, school admission months, or when big sales pop up.

Livid users said the frequent service disruption was causing a big headache to businesses as well as consumers.

“The way they are treating upi and keeping it down at random hours is getting really scary day by day. Affecting many small scale businesses and shops. Are we moving towards cash again?” created one customer.

The way they are treating upi and keeping it down at random hours is getting really scary day by day. Affecting many small scale businesses and shops. Are we moving towards cash again?

— Chirag Barjatya (@chiragbarjatyaa) April 12, 2025

“Just finished lunch like a boss but when I tried paying via UPI—boom! Server down. Now I’m just sitting in hotel like a wanted criminal full stomach but cooked RIP to me!” a second said.

A third questioned: “This never happened for so many years. Is this a way to introduce some kind of charge for making UPI payments in future?”