Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm users: NPCI new rules for beneficiary name now live for UPI payments

New Delhi: The first half of 2025 has come to a close, and we’re now stepping into the second half of the year. Starting today, there are some important updates regarding UPI and credit card transactions. If you’re a UPI user, pay attention to this change: all UPI apps will now display only the ultimate beneficiary’s name on the pre-transaction page.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has issued a mandate requiring that the ultimate beneficiary of a UPI transaction be displayed prominently starting today, July 1. This information will be visible both on the payer’s app and in transaction statements or histories. For those who may not be familiar, the ‘ultimate beneficiary’ refers to the banking name retrieved from the Validate Address API. This means the beneficiary information that is now accessible to UPI users will be directly retrieved from banking data sources.

No more nicknames
The NPCI has prohibited UPI apps from showing names pulled from QR codes, user-defined payee names, or any other information that shouldn’t be visible to the payer within the UPI app. Additionally, the NPCI has restricted the modification of beneficiary names by users. This means that UPI apps will disable any features that previously allowed users to alter the “Beneficiary Name” for transactions in the app interface.

These changes aim to enhance customer confidence by ensuring that users can verify they are sending money to the correct beneficiary, thereby minimising potential risks associated with UPI transactions. UPI applications will need to implement these updates to comply with the new guidelines set forth by NPCI. In the past, there have been numerous instances where UPI users have been tricked into making payments to incorrect accounts due to misleading account names. This new rule will enable users to verify that the account they are sending money to actually belongs to the intended recipient.