Reserve Bank Of India / RBI's gift to UPI Lite users, increased transaction limit, wallet limit also increased

Reserve Bank Of India: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the limit per transaction under UPI Lite from Rs 500 to Rs 1000 to make digital payments more accessible and convenient. This decision has been taken with the aim of promoting the use of digital payments and simplifying small transactions. However, the total limit of UPI wallet will remain at Rs 5,000.

What is UPI Lite?

UPI Lite is a special feature designed to complete small digital payments quickly and seamlessly. It supports offline transactions, which do not require internet connectivity.

Key Features:

Without AFA (Additional Factor of Authentication): There is no need to enter PIN in transactions under UPI Lite, making the process faster and simpler.

Offline Payments: This feature works even without internet or network connectivity.

Real-time Alerts: Notifications do not come in real time during the transaction, but the records are safe.

Benefits of increased limit

As per the new RBI rule, now Rs 1000 can be paid at a time. With a total wallet limit of Rs 5,000, users can use the wallet fully in five times.

This facility will be very useful for small merchants and customers, as there will be no compulsion to enter PIN repeatedly and internet connectivity.

Cashless transactions will get a further boost.

Current status of offline transactions

At present, the highest limit for offline transactions is Rs 500 at a time. The total limit of offline transactions at any time is limited to Rs 2,000.

Record increase in UPI transactions

UPI transactions are increasing steadily. In October 2024,

16.58 billion transactions were recorded.

The total transaction value stood at Rs 23.50 trillion.

In November, there were an average of 516 million daily transactions, with a daily transaction amount of Rs 71,840 crore.

Past changes and way forward

In 2022, RBI had set the limit of UPI Lite for offline payments. In October 2024, the Reserve Bank announced to increase it. The increasing number of transactions and improvements on the UPI platform are making it the most popular mode of digital payments in India.

Conclusion

Increasing the limit per transaction under UPI Lite to Rs 1000 is a big step towards making small and medium payments faster and secure. This change will make digital transactions more accessible and will play an important role in expanding the digital economy of the country.