Big Changes Ahead: From August 1, Paytm, Google Pay, PhonePe Users Can’t Freely Check Balances, Linked Accounts, or Use Autopay Anytime

Starting August 1, major changes are coming to UPI apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm, as the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) rolls out new rules to ease pressure on India’s fast-growing digital payment system.

What’s Changing?

With over 40 crore UPI users and 16+ billion transactions monthly, even small glitches affect lakhs. To prevent system overloads like the April 12 outage that lasted nearly five hours, NPCI is introducing limits on frequently used features.

1. Balance Checks Capped

• New limit: Only 50 balance checks per day via UPI apps.
• After 50 attempts, the feature will be temporarily disabled.

2. Linked Account Checks Limited

• Checking how many bank accounts are linked to your mobile number? Now capped at 25 times per day.

3. Autopay Gets Time Restrictions

• Automatic payments (like SIPs, OTT subscriptions, insurance premiums) will only go through during non-peak hours:
  • Before 10:00 AM
  • Between 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
  • After 9:30 PM

Why This Matters

India’s UPI handles 7,000+ transactions per second during peak times. Even a one-minute disruption impacts 4 lakh users. Investigations reveal that frequent API hits, especially for balance checks, are a key reason for slowdowns.

The new rules aim to streamline traffic, reduce outages, and ensure smoother digital payments, especially as volumes continue to surge.

What Should You Do?

• Plan your autopay schedules around the new time slots.
• Avoid excessive balance or account checks.
• Expect better system reliability, thanks to these preventive steps.

These changes may be a slight adjustment for regular users, but they’re crucial to keeping UPI fast, stable, and future-ready.