New UPI Lite feature! Soon your UPI Lite balance will be topped up automatically - here’s how it will work

UPI Lite Auto-Top Up Feature: The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is set to introduce a new feature called UPI Lite auto top-up, which will automatically reload your UPI Lite balance when it falls below a certain threshold. This feature aims to make your UPI payments more convenient and seamless.

What is UPI Lite?

UPI Lite is a wallet that enables users to make small-value transactions without the need for a UPI PIN. To use UPI Lite, you simply add money to your wallet from your bank account and then use the pre-loaded amount for payments. Many popular UPI applications, such as Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and BHIM, support UPI Lite for their customers.

UPI Lite is designed for low-value transactions, with an upper limit of Rs 500 per transaction. The maximum balance you can maintain in your UPI Lite wallet is Rs 2,000, according to an ET report.

What is UPI Lite Auto Top-Up Feature & How Will It Work?

Currently, when your UPI Lite balance runs out, you need to manually reload it from your bank account to continue making payments. The new auto top-up feature aims to streamline this process by automatically reloading your UPI Lite wallet when the balance falls below a certain level, eliminating the need for manual intervention.

Recently NPCI announced that, “with this new feature, the UPI Lite balance will automatically be reloaded by an amount chosen by the user, not exceeding the UPI Lite balance limit, whenever the balance falls below a minimum limit set by them."

Also Read | UPI transaction limit changes from September 16: Here are the new limits for various UPI payments

The upcoming UPI Lite auto top-up feature will allow users to specify a minimum balance, for example, Rs 100. Whenever the UPI Lite balance falls below this set amount, the account will be automatically replenished with a predetermined sum from the user's linked bank account.

The reload amount, which cannot exceed Rs 2,000, must also be specified by the user. The UPI Lite account will permit a maximum of five top-ups per day.

NPCI has instructed issuer banks to enable the auto top-up functionality on UPI Lite. Banks are required to support the creation of UPI Lite mandates and allow debits when requests are received from Payment Service Providers (PSPs) or apps.

NPCI has also mandated that UPI apps incorporate the necessary features and user interface to facilitate auto top-up on UPI Lite.

According to NPCI, issuer banks will be responsible for notifying customers about all mandate-related activities. "Members who are live on UPI Lite are requested to hereby note the changes and enable the feature by 31st October 2024," stated NPCI.

As a result, it is anticipated that users will have access to the auto top-up feature on UPI Lite starting from November 1, 2024, the ET report said.