The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced new guidelines for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, effective February 1, 2025. As per the new rules, UPI IDs containing special characters (#, @, $, ) will be blacklisted, and such transactions will be declined. Users are advised to update their UPI IDs to comply with these regulations.

The change aims to enhance security, compliance, and efficiency within the UPI ecosystem. According to a circular issued on January 9, 2025, NPCI has directed all UPI service providers to ensure that only alphanumeric characters are used for generating transaction IDs.

The announcement comes at a time when UPI has become India’s leading digital payment method. According to the RBI Payment System Report, UPI's share in India's digital transactions surged from 34% in 2019 to 83% in 2024, growing at an annual rate of 74%. Meanwhile, traditional payment methods like RTGS, NEFT, IMPS, and card payments have declined to 17% of the market.

UPI transaction volumes have skyrocketed from 375 crore in 2018 to 17,221 crore in 2024, with transaction values surging from ₹5.86 lakh crore to ₹246.83 lakh crore in the same period.

With UPI continuing to revolutionize digital payments, users must adapt to these new regulations to ensure uninterrupted transactions.