Offline UPI payment: UPI will work without the internet; NPCI is introducing a new offline ‘Tap-to-Pay’ feature.
The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which revolutionized digital payments in India, is soon going to take another big step. Soon customers will be able to easily make UPI payments even without internet connection. According to a Business Standard report, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is developing a system that will allow customers to make payments at a merchant’s Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal even when neither device has an internet network.
Using Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology
According to reports, NPCI may start certifying PoS devices of leading terminal manufacturing companies in the year 2026. The proposed system will use Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology. Under this facility, payments of up to Rs 2,000 can be made by simply ‘tapping’ an NFC-enabled smartphone at an offline terminal. Customers will not even need to enter any UPI PIN for this.
Where and how will this feature be useful?
This feature is specially designed for places where internet connectivity is poor or not available at all, such as airplane cabins, basement parking or underground metro train networks.
Customers have to pre-load money in the ‘UPI Lite’ wallet available on their device when they are connected to the internet. Subsequently, payments can be made at offline terminals using this balance even at non-network locations. PoS companies have to obtain certification from NPCI to accept payments in an offline setting. The terminal will save the payment authorization and forward it for verification as soon as the network is back.
How is this different from UPI Lite X?
NPCI introduced ‘UPI Lite X’ in September 2023, which is completely designed for offline payments. According to the January 2024 guidelines, it worked phone-to-phone or soundbox. However, this new feature will extend this feature to traditional PoS terminals, meaning payments can be accepted even if the merchant’s machine is disconnected.
RBI Rules and Limits
As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) current offline digital-payment framework, a typical offline transaction limit is Rs 500 and the total cumulative limit is Rs 2,000. While in this newly proposed feature, a limit of Rs 2,000 has been mentioned for a single transaction. NPCI is yet to announce the operating rules for the program as to how this limit will align with the existing RBI framework.
Increasing prevalence of UPI
According to NPCI’s official figures, UPI processed 22.72 billion transactions worth Rs 28.92 lakh crore in June 2026. Currently in places like airlines where card payments are difficult due to operational issues, this new offline UPI feature could emerge as a big option.
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