UPI, Unified Payments Interface, has revolutionised digital payments made in India. But with good things, there come certain limitations to prevent misuse. Hence, there’s a catch to your daily-made digital payments – you have a transaction limit on UPI payments.
How do you increase your UPI limits, then? Is there something you can do about it? Read this informative article to find out!
What is a UPI Transaction Limit?
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) decides the transaction limit for your UPI payments.
A transaction limit for all your UPI payments refers to the maximum amount of money you can transfer using the UPI system in a single transaction or within a specified period, such as a day or while opening a new UPI account. All banks must follow this limit when assigning a UPI transaction limit to their users.
A Run Through of the Various UPI Transaction Limits
While the daily transaction limit set by the NPCI for everyone by default is ₹1 Lakh, individual banks may set a lower limit for their users on UPI platforms. It’s best to check your daily UPI transaction limit with your bank.
Here’s a run-through of all the various UPI transaction limits you can get as a UPI user:
- Daily Limit: This refers to the maximum amount you can transfer through UPI within 24 hours. It is usually between ₹1 Lakh and ₹5 Lakh.
- Individual Transactions: An individual transaction refers to the maximum limit of an amount you can transfer in a single UPI transaction.
- Merchant Transaction Limit: This refers to the transaction limit for all merchant purchases and bill payments. The merchant transaction limit is usually higher than your normal transaction limits. It is up to ₹5 Lakh and typically depends on the bank or the merchant.
Can I Change My UPI Transaction Limit on My Own?
The main question remains – can you change or increase your UPI transaction limit on your own? The NPCI has set daily transaction limits for safety measures. These limits are designed to prevent misuse, protect you from cyber fraud, and ensure secure digital transactions.
As such, users cannot change the government-approved UPI transaction limit on their own.
How to Increase the UPI Limit?
As mentioned above, you cannot increase the transaction limit of your UPI as that is government-decided. However, the NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India) has officially now increased the upper limit of your UPI transactions from ₹1 Lakh to ₹5 Lakh for certain high-value categories. This is put into effect from September 16, 2024.
You can make transactions of up to ₹5 Lakh for the below categories:
- IPO applications
- Tax payments
- Hospital and educational institutional payments
- Payments made to RBI’s retail direct schemes
Apart from the above categories, the NPCI also states that they have a UPI limit of up to ₹2 Lakh for insurance, capital markets, and foreign inward remittances.
The main purpose of increasing the UPI limit is to serve the purpose of making digital payments more versatile and accessible for important sectors like healthcare, tax payments, education, and financial investments.
Note that this high cap for UPI transactions applies only to the specific categories mentioned above. For peer-to-peer and usual retail transactions, the limit remains the same – that is ₹1 Lakh.
Summing Up
So, can you increase the UPI limit? In short, no, you cannot change the maximum transaction limit for your UPI-made payments. It remains ₹1 Lakh for your usual payments. However, the NPCI has increased the UPI limit from ₹1 Lakh to ₹5 Lakh for categories such as IPO applications, tax payments, payments made to educational institutions and hospitals, and also RBI retail direct scheme payments.
