Millions of users across India faced significant disruptions on Saturday after the Unified Payments interference (UPI) services were affected. Digital payment apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay showed ‘transaction failed’ or ‘payment processing’ during attempts to make payments. Hours after users encountered difficulty in payment, WhatsApp also crashed by evening. Several users complained that their messages did not get delivered.
UPI Outage Follows Similar Disruption On March 26
According to Downdetector, Google Pay users reported 96 problems and Paytm users flagged 23 issues by Saturday noon, while over 460 WhatsApp issue were noted around 5.30 pm. This widespread outage follows a similar disruption on March 26 when digital transactions were hit, affecting major banks and UPI-based apps.
Why Did UPI Stop Working?
In light of the UPI outage, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which oversees the UPI infrastructure, attributed the service interruption to intermittent technical issues. In an X post, NPCI said, “NPCI is currently facing intermittent technical issues, leading to partial UPI transaction declines. We are working to resolve the issue, and will keep you updated. We regret the inconvenience caused.”
NPCI is currently facing intermittent technical issues, leading to partial UPI transaction declines. We are working to resolve the issue, and will keep you updated.
---Advertisement---We regret the inconvenience caused.
— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) April 12, 2025
Reason For WhatsApp Crash Remain Unclear
As of now, there is no immediate statement by WhatsApp on why it crashed yesterday. The UPI services, on the other hand, which was first hit around 11:30 am and peaked till noon, were restored since late afternoon. Meanwhile, WhatsApp outage which began in the evening, was reportedly restored after 8 pm.
Should India Plan Better Before Becoming Fully Digitalised?
PM Modi’s vision and efforts to make a ‘Digital India’ has achieved significant strides over the past decade. However, the recent outage raises a critical question: Should India Plan Better Before Becoming Fully Digitalised? At a time when digital services are becoming the backbone of the country, it seems we are racing ahead without a safety net.
Offline Digital Solutions
For many citizens, even a one hour disruption means loss of income, customer frustration, and more. Going fully digital requires an infrastructure that is transparent, and accountable. In this instance, there should be availability of offline digital solutions like Bluetooth-based payments, QR code storage for offline transactions, etc. This may offer temporary relief when internet or UPI apps crash.
Users Demand Action
The country which is now highly depended on UPI transactions are seeking digital solutions incase of any similar disruptions in future. Following the unexpected crash, many netizens took to their social media handles to voice their concerns. A user asked, “How long should one wait for this to be a failed transaction?” Another said, “From “Digital India” to “Cash, please” UPI outages are pushing people back to square one.” A third users commented, “Where is the innovation? Please divert the women freebies money to fix national critical infrastructure.” Meanwhile, a fourth user remarked, “UPI crashes are too often these days, leaving many people stuck. We rely on it daily, but the system keeps failing us.”
Here’s what other social media users said:
“I am stuck in the airport with a delayed flight, a lost wallet with all my cash and cards and then I discovered UPI was also not accepting any payments. Not sure what calamity will happen next.”
“I bought two insulin pen worth 3600 paid through UPI, transaction failed, money not reverted in account, have left with 1400 in account and even if I withdraw that money from ATM i am not able to buy a single insulin pen. Bank say wait for 2 working days to revert your money.”
“Since most people rely on cashless transactions, a UPI technical issue becomes a significant concern.”
“What would happen to the pending transaction submitted”
“Thanks to your frequent failures, have started to keep few green bucks in my purse again.”
“Its more than 3 hours and you cant fix the downtime. Common you can do it.”
“When will backlogged payments and cashbacks be cleared out once it is resolved?”
“My account is debited but the receiver auto wala has not received money its approx 2hrs now, At least they should not deduct money or transaction should reverse immediately in this case…”
“Couple of instance of this kind of performance issue will push the people back to cash. Look at visa, Mastercard network. Their networks are always up. Ask your team to pull up the socks and work.”
“This has been the third outage for the UPI platform. There should be a high level of technical investigation into this matter and an immediate DR plan should be implemented. It’s now the backbone of the transaction.”
“This has been the third outage for the UPI platform. There should be a high level of technical investigation into this matter and an immediate DR plan should be implemented. It’s now the backbone of the transaction.”
“Money debited first but transaction pending after sometime money refunded.”
“Unless there is a competition to UPI issues will continue as along as it is a monopoly. Hence should have an alternative to switch over when one system fails.”
“what is the reason for the NPCI failing so often? Regretting the inconveniences doesnt help, investigate and avoid it in the future. maybe it is a way to show the customers that u need to introduce UPI transaction charges?”
Also Read: UPI Goes Down: Paytm, Phone Pe, Google Pay Suffer Massive Outage- Users Flock Down Detector
