UPI Lite Wallet limit increased to Rs 5000, per transaction limit also increased

New Delhi| The Reserve Bank of India has announced to increase the wallet limit for UPI Lite from Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000, promoting instant payment system through mobile phones. Apart from this, the limit per transaction has also been increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000.

According to RBI, a maximum of Rs 1,000 can now be sent to a person at a time through UPI Lite. “The increased limit for UPI Lite will be Rs 1,000 per transaction and the total limit at any time will be Rs 5,000”, the Reserve Bank circular said.

For UPI payment, the user needs UPI PIN. Through UPI Lite, smartphone users get the facility to do low cost transactions without UPI PIN. UPI Lite is a customer-friendly approach, which does not depend on the core banking system of the bank in real time.

UPI Lite supports offline transactions for person-to-person payments, person-to-merchant payments and small merchant payments. With UPI Lite, users get offline debit facility for payment, but it is necessary to stay online for credit.

Most UPI merchant transactions use static or dynamic QR codes, which require online messages to reach the recipient to complete the payment. This decision has been taken at a time when RBI is pilot testing technologies that enable retail digital payments in situations where internet connectivity is low or not available.

Last time in October, the RBI had expressed its intention to adjust these UPI payment limits as part of its monetary policy. “The framework issued by the Reserve Bank to facilitate small value payments in offline digital mode, under which UPI Lite has been enabled, will be appropriately amended”, the central bank had said in its statement on developmental and regulatory policies