You can now unlink inactive mobile numbers from UPI accounts
What's the story
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is introducing a feature to unlink old or inactive mobile numbers from Unified Payments Interface (UPI) IDs. The move, effective March 31, 2025, will require banks and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to update their internal databases regularly, at least once a week. The initiative will help reduce errors due to recycled or churned numbers in financial transactions.
Number recycling
Understanding recycled or churned-out numbers
Recycled/churned-out numbers are those which have been disconnected and allocated to a new subscriber after a gap of 90 days, according to the guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). Normally, if a subscriber doesn't use their mobile number for three months, it is deactivated by the telecom service provider. These operators then reassign such mobile numbers to another subscriber after a certain time gap.
Enhanced consent
New directive to improve user security
The latest NPCI circular mandates UPI apps to take explicit user consent for porting UPI numbers. This new requirement is likely to bolster user security and ensure accurate financial transactions. The circular says UPI apps shall now take "explicit user consent with a clear opt-out option (by default checked out, and the user needs to click on opt-in) for seeding or porting the UPI number."
User awareness
NPCI emphasizes clear communication and user consent
The NPCI stresses such nudges given to the user by the UPI app should be "clear non-intrusive communication without misleading/forceful messaging." The circular also says under no circumstances can the users' consent be taken before or during a transaction. All seeding (linking verified number to UPI ID) or porting communications will not contain any misleading fear-inducing statements, like the user will stop receiving money using UPI if they fail to take any action.