On the evening of Tuesday, February 10, India’s widely used digital payment network, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), suffered a widespread disruption that left many users unable to complete transactions across multiple popular apps. Reports began to emerge on social media platforms and outage trackers showing that payments, fund transfers and QR scans were failing on major UPI-enabled apps such as Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm, with users encountering “service provider not available” and similar error messages as they tried to pay merchants, transfer money to contacts or complete online orders.
Complaints appeared to surge across several large cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, suggesting the issue was nationwide rather than limited to a specific region. Some users reported trying multiple banks and UPI apps without success, forcing them to switch to cash or cards for essential purchases, while outage tracker platforms registered hundreds of problem reports in a short span, reflecting a sustained disruption rather than a momentary glitch. UPI’s operator had not immediately issued a formal confirmation at the time the earliest reports circulated, with some notices advising users to wait or try alternatives as the situation developed.
This episode sparked frustration among regular users, many of whom rely on UPI as their primary mode of payment for everyday spending. India’s UPI system, operated by the National Payments Corporation of India, has become deeply embedded in the financial lives of millions of people and businesses, handling vast volumes of daily micro and macro transactions across banks and third-party apps. News of the outage quickly generated discussions on social feeds, with users describing difficulties at checkouts, during rideshare bookings and while settling bills, highlighting just how integral UPI has become to routine financial interactions.
A veteran banking expert and former financial journalist said that while technical hitches have occurred in the past—often linked to bank server issues or intermittent API challenges that have previously led to partial declines in transaction success rates—the scale and timing of the February 10 disruption underlines the dependency of India’s digital economy on UPI’s uninterrupted functioning.
"Past outages have occurred sporadically, with similar disruptions reported in previous years when internal technical problems at participating banks or overloads in the system caused temporary payment failures. In those instances, the National Payments Corporation of India has worked with banks and service providers to quickly restore service and stabilise the network, even as users expressed frustration over recurring interruptions," he added while responding to a query from TNIE.
The February 10 issue comes amid a backdrop of ongoing discussions about the robustness of India’s digital payment infrastructure, given UPI’s role as the backbone of retail transactions and its rapid growth in usage and value over recent years. While specific causes of the outage remained unclear in the immediate aftermath, experts point to the complex interplay between numerous banks, payment apps and system APIs that underpin UPI’s real-time settlement mechanism. With millions of transactions occurring every day, even brief disruptions can have outsized effects on commerce, consumer confidence and the wider digital ecosystem.
For now, the focus remains on restoring full service and understanding what triggered the shutdown. What is certain is that any interruption to UPI touches everyday life in India—from street vendors and small shops to online merchants and household bill payments—reinforcing the importance of resilient infrastructure as digital payments continue to expand.