UPI Down: Online payment services like Google Pay, Paytm face major outage, netizens complain

UPI users in India struggled with major technical issues with the online payment system on Monday while transactions through PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm were difficult to make. Users faced problems like incomplete transactions, troubles in sending money and more. Social media users shared the news of this event widely claiming around 900 people facing problems. Some users even faced troubles with loading or interacting with the app in any way.  

As per Downdetector, over 62 percent of users reported problems with fund transfers, while 21 percent complained of facing issues with the application, while only 17 percent faced troubles with making payment difficulties. This is the first incident of UPI outage this month. However, problems with payment as part of UPI outage occurred twice in April. At the time, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said that troubles with UPI apps were because of many reasons including a bank requesting to 'check transaction status,' which overwhelmed the system. But for the current outage, the NPCI has not confirmed any reason or explanation. 

The UPI outage has come at a time when tensions between India and Pakistan have heightened to a level of war as the past one week saw tremendous military fight between the two nuclear powers. In view of the situation, the finance ministry has requested all financial institutions, including NPCI, to stay cautious from any potential cyberattack from Pakistani side. The ministry believes that Pakistan may commit a cybercrime.   

Social media users have responded amid frustration over the UPI outage by sharing their experiences. Users have been sharing their experiences with #UPIDown. A user wrote, “#UPIDown again. So strange!! This is becoming way too frequent nowadays. First #UPI goes down, then banks declare their own “downtime” for UPI transactions. India ka online payment system.” Another user shared the concern and wrote, “UPI services are down across major platforms like GPay, PhonePe, and Paytm. In a country moving rapidly towards digital payments, such frequent outages raise serious concerns.”