Overview
- On Tuesday, July 21, 2026, multiple outlets reported that the National Payments Corporation of India is developing an NFC-based offline ‘tap and pay’ capability for UPI that would work when both the payer’s phone and the merchant PoS are offline.
- The service would draw funds from an on-device UPI Lite balance so users can tap an NFC-enabled smartphone to pay without entering a UPI PIN at the time of the transaction.
- Reports say transactions will be limited to about Rs 2,000 and that merchant terminals will store payment authorisations locally and sync them with banks when connectivity is restored.
- NPCI is expected to begin certifying PoS manufacturers and terminals and banks and third-party UPI apps are working on integrations, but there is no official NPCI launch notice or operational guideline yet.
- The feature builds on prior offline work such as UPI Lite X and aims to make UPI usable in airplanes, metro tunnels, rural areas and other low‑connectivity settings while raising practical questions about fraud controls and reconciliation.