UPI is Unified Payments Interface. NPCI built it, and RBI regulates NPCI. It sits on the IMPS rails, but an everyday payment does not need you to type an account number and an IFSC. You use a UPI ID, a mobile number, or a QR code. It runs all day, including a bank holiday. The UPI PIN confirms the payment. NPCI says the app does not store that PIN, and the bank’s staff will not ask for it.
NPCI’s FAQ updated on 15 October 2026 says banks and NPCI keep daily security caps that are typically ₹1,00,000 to ₹5,00,000, depending on the category. “Typically” is the word in that FAQ. It is not one ceiling for every payment. Your bank can set a lower internal limit. Person-to-person transfers stay on the older NPCI rule. Circular 185B says that limit continues as it was. It does not reprint a rupee figure, so this page does not invent one.
Higher caps apply only to a verified merchant, and only in the categories NPCI named. Circular 185A of 24 August 2024 raised tax-aligned payments to ₹5,00,000 a transaction. Circular 185B of 28 August 2025, which banks had to follow by 15 September 2025, set verified-merchant ceilings for capital markets, insurance, the government e-marketplace, travel and collections at ₹5,00,000 a transaction and ₹10,00,000 in 24 hours. A credit-card bill is ₹5,00,000 a transaction and ₹6,00,000 in 24 hours. The circular also lists jewellery, foreign-exchange retail and digital account opening. This page does not quote those rows.
What you pay
The person sending money is not charged, on the FAQ of 15 October 2026. Person-to-person transfers are free both ways. The app must not add a platform fee. A merchant discount of 0.4% on person-to-merchant payments above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300 once the payment is ₹75,000 or more, is a cost for the merchant. The same FAQ said the start date was still to be notified after Diwali. A small merchant collecting up to ₹1,00,000 a month on a UPI QR stays at zero merchant discount. None of that is a fee taken from the sender.
An IPO application is a separate block. An individual applying through a broker or a syndicate member can use UPI up to ₹5,00,000. SEBI’s circular of 5 April 2022 brought that into public issues, after NPCI raised the limit in December 2021. Above ₹5,00,000, the bank’s own ASBA is the path. The mandate has to be approved by 5 pm on T. The IPO application guide is that form. The allotment guide is what happens after the bid.
If it fails, and how not to be cheated
If a UPI transfer of funds debits you and does not credit the other account, the beneficiary bank should reverse it by T+1, under RBI’s circular of 20 September 2019. A shop payment where the merchant never gets a confirmation has a longer outer limit: auto-reversal within T+5 days. After the relevant day, compensation is ₹100 a day, credited without a claim. Raise the payment in the app as well as with the bank.
Do not share the UPI PIN or an OTP. A collect request is a demand that you pay. Approving it sends money out. If you did not expect it, reject it. A failed UPI payment is not, by itself, a mark on a credit report. The payments guide compares the four systems. The FD calculator is for a balance you meant to keep, not for the pipe that moved it.
Questions
What is the everyday UPI limit?
NPCI’s FAQ updated on 15 October 2026 says daily security caps are typically ₹1,00,000 to ₹5,00,000, depending on the category. “Typically” is NPCI’s word. Your bank can set a lower cap. Circular 185B does not reprint one person-to-person rupee figure.
Can I apply for an IPO with UPI?
Yes, up to ₹5,00,000 for an individual application through a broker, syndicate member, depository participant, or registrar. That block is the public-issue limit SEBI adopted, not the capital-markets merchant cap. Above it, use the bank’s own ASBA.
Will the bank ask for my UPI PIN?
No. NPCI says the PIN is yours, the app does not store it, and bank staff will not ask for it. An OTP is the same kind of secret. A collect request you did not expect is a demand that you pay. Reject it.
Sources
Figures checked 31 Oct 2026.