Multiple banks and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platforms experienced server outages across India on Tuesday evening. Users highlighted the issue on social media platforms regarding failed payments through various banking apps, including those of HDFC Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bank of Baroda, among others.
Several users reported encountering problems making transactions through platforms such as Google Pay, PhonePe and BHIM, etc.
According to outage detection site Downdetector, there were reports of ongoing outages impacting UPI, as well as banks such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India (SBI) and others.
Several reports suggest that there has been a widespread outage impacting UPI functionality in the country, resulting in users being unable to make transactions or transfer funds through Unified Payments Interface-enabled apps.
Despite a number of user reports about the outage, neither the banks, nor the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) have acknowledged the ongoing outage. No information has been revealed regarding the root cause of the issue or the reasons behind users' inability to make UPI payments through their bank accounts.
"Yes, this is @HDFC_Bank! Nothing is going with new-age banking. Mobile Banking, UPI, Trading Account... everything is down when you badly need it. The bank makes you frustrated at the merchant when you initiate payment through UPI. Please look into it (sic)," posted an affected user on X, formerly Twitter.
Notably, earlier in November 2023, a report said that the government was mulling the implementation of a minimum time constraint for transactions exceeding a specified amount in the initial interaction between two individuals. As reported by The Indian Express, based on inputs from government sources, the proposed strategy was said to involve instituting a potential four-hour timeframe for the inaugural transaction between two users for digital payments, particularly those exceeding Rs 2,000.