NCPI introduces new way to share UPI payments with friends and family
The National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) has rolled out a new feature called ‘UPI Circle' that allows users to delegate access to their Unified Payments Interface (UPI) account to add trusted contacts. This will help increase digital payments across the country, especially benefitting those relying on others to manage finances.
UPI Circle works by letting the primary account holder add up to five secondary users they can share transactions with. There are two types of access – full and partial. Full access allows secondary users to make payments of up to Rs. 15,000 per month without requiring approval each time, while partial needs the primary user to confirm each payment request. Secondary users also have a per transaction limit of Rs. 5,000 with full access.
To add contacts, the primary user simply scans the other person's QR code or enters their UPI ID followed by selecting their number from contacts. Existing UPI limits still apply for partial access. Several safety measures are in place like biometric authentication and restricting adding numbers not in contacts to prevent fraud.
This new circle-of-trust feature provides an easy way to help the elderly, children and homemakers without accounts to benefit from digital payments through their trusted network. As more Indians adopt UPI, this additional functionality could play a role in furthering the cashless economy and financial inclusion goals.
