India's UPI System Stabilized After Nationwide Outage Disrupts Millions

A one-hour technical glitch affected digital payment services across major platforms, raising concerns about regulatory compliance and system reliability.

A major disruption in India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system on March 26, 2025, caused widespread transaction failures across apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm.
The outage, lasting approximately one hour, was attributed to intermittent technical issues confirmed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
Millions of users across India faced failed transactions and delays, with over 3,100 complaints logged on DownDetector during the incident.
While NPCI announced that the system had stabilized by the evening, questions remain about its adherence to the six-hour reporting requirement mandated by Cert-In.
The incident highlighted the critical role of UPI in India's economy, processing billions of transactions monthly, and underscored the public's reliance on digital payments.