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The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), an entity in the public sector responsible for managing retail payment and settlement frameworks across India, has announced updated guidelines for transactions using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), set to take effect on February 1, 2025. Under these new regulations, any UPI ID that includes special characters such as , @, $, or will be disqualified. Consequently, users are required to modify their UPI IDs to conform to these new standards pertaining to such unique characters. As per a circular from the NPCI dated January 9, participants within the UPI ecosystem are instructed to exclusively utilize alphanumeric characters for the creation of UPI transaction IDs. This directive aims to ensure adherence to the technical specifications outlined for UPI.

In light of the importance of adhering to these specifications, it has been determined that transaction IDs containing special characters will not be permitted. The central system will refuse any transactions that include these characters, effective from February 1, 2025. All involved parties are encouraged to take this notice seriously and ensure compliance. This information should be shared with all relevant stakeholders for appropriate action.

Special characters refer to any elements that fall outside the standard 26-letter alphabet and the digits 0-9. This includes punctuation, diacritical marks, and other symbols. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s payment system report, the share of UPI in India’s digital payment landscape has skyrocketed from 34 percent in 2019 to an impressive 83 percent in 2024, exhibiting a remarkable cumulative average growth rate of 74 percent over the past five years.

Conversely, the portion of other payment systems, such as RTGS, NEFT, IMPS, credit and debit cards, has diminished from 66 percent to 17 percent within the same timeframe. The report highlights that UPI has played a pivotal role in the expansion of digital payments in India, largely owing to its convenience and utility. On a broader scale, the number of UPI transactions grew from 375 million in 2018 to 17.221 billion in 2024, while the total monetary value of these transactions soared from ₹5.86 lakh crore in 2018 to ₹246.83 lakh crore in 2024.