Ban on UPI Payments Under Rs 50 for Gaming: Why Should You Care?

NPCI is set to ban all gaming UPI transactions under Rs 50.

(image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint)

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is set to ban all gaming UPI transactions under Rs 50.

According to The Economic Times, these new rules are set to be announced soon.

The change is aimed at 'moderating' UPI volumes that has surged since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been causing an increase in bank outages.

Several industry insiders confirmed that NPCI in recent week saw a massive spike in low-ticket recurring transactions as low as Re 1 processed by gaming merchants.

Citing one of the sources, ET reported that transactions especially spiked during IPL matches, which has led to increased transaction loads that could lead to more system outages.

An internal message accessed by Outlook India reveals that NPCI is not amused by the people using the United Payments Interface (UPI) to play fantasy cricket during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 championship.

“This is to inform you all that (National Payments Corporation of India) NPCI will block all UPI transactions of INR 50 and less for all gaming merchants. The timeline for the same is unknown yet but from some resources we have heard that it might be done in the next 24 hrs. We request you to be prepared with this and let us know if Paytm can help you in anyway,” read the message accessed by Outlook.

Increase in UPI Volumes Amid IPL Season

More than Rs 5 lakh crore payments have been processed by UPI in March 2021. However, during IPL season the volumes of transaction increases especially on fantasy sports application and that too with a very low ticket transactions.

This means that gaming users transact as low as Re 1 to Rs 10, hitting the UPI network and causing delay in UPI transactions.

Industry sources have confirmed that NPCI has seen an 'unusual' growth in the number of transactions people are making on IPL.

According to Outlook India, a renowned Bollywood star is promoting a fantasy game where one can become a millionaire by waging as little as Re 1.

Banks get clogged and are unable to process other transactions due to a sudden spurt in processing loads, an official told ET.

How Will This Move Affect You?

If you play any online games you will have to transact more than Rs 50 on UPI networks. Alternatively, you can use other payment forms such as net banking, credit and debit cards.

Some industry experts believe that this move will make the UPI transactions across the country more efficient and reliable. Bank outages will significantly reduce if this update is rolled out by the NPCI.

But..Why Is The Restriction Only Imposed on Gaming?

Questioning the decision of NPCI, Manav Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer, Octro Inc told The Quint, "Why should there be an industry specific block and why only gaming!?"

"Restrict all below 50 transactions for all industries then- music, OTT etc. All over the world, gaming has already surpassed music and movies in value and has emerged as a scalable form of a leisure option. UPI was meant to enable transactions at scale for BOP markets and not limit it. It’s actually contradictory on behalf of NPCI, because if UPI throughput was an issue then why was market share restrictions put on various platforms?" he added.

“Why would a limb of the government be an antithesis to the Made in India program, by the same government, intended to fuel the tech business growth?”

Manav Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer – Octro Inc.