Swiggy, PhonePe Switch UPI Service Network Amid Yes Bank Crisis

These popular services are not able to accept payments from users because of the ongoing situation with Yes Bank.

UPI payments using Yes Bank as their back-end network take a hit. 

(Photo: The Quint)

Major digital services have been affected in the country, as Yes Bank was restricted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from allowing its users to make transactions of large amounts.

That’s not the only thing that has people worried, as Yes Bank is also one of the biggest back-end solution platforms for making UPI payments across popular services like Swiggy and PhonePe as well as online shopping giant Flipkart among others.

Now PhonePe has updated its users via Twitter that wallet, card services and UPI payments are now available.

PhonePe on Saturday confirmed that its services were unavailable as it was going through an unscheduled maintenance activity. Basically, the unavailability of Yes Bank network forced the Walmart-owned payment entity to look for other partner and it has now confirmed to be working with ICICI Bank for its UPI service.

The PhonePe team worked overnight with NPCI and ICICI bank, its new UPI partner to ensure all its services were up and running within a day. All merchant payment settlements were restored by Friday noon and all consumer wallet, credit and debit card payments were restored by 3 p.m. All UPI services were restored by Friday night

PhonePe statement

Paytm is also blocking payments made to Yes Bank accounts by its users, asking them to change their primary bank account before making such payment.

“Safety and security of our users’ money are of utmost importance to us. We have stopped all transactions to YES bank accounts so that the money doesn’t get blocked. We are also requesting users to change their primary bank account to some other bank. However, these restrictions are temporary in nature till the time we get more clarity on the situation.”

Satish Gupta, MD &CEO, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL)

Airtel Payments Bank, which is also listed as one of the merchant using Yes Bank for UPI service on NPCI website has confirmed its payment services remain unaffected.

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) governs UPI payments and its ecosystem in the country, and Yes Bank is listed as one of the prime back-end providers for a lot of digital services.

These services were using Yes Bank for its UPI payment back-end.(Photo: The Quint/Shruti Mathur)

As per the update on the NPCI website, the likes of Swiggy, Flipkart Redbus and more have now switched their UPI service network, allowing them to operate once again.

Last week, Razorpay confirmed to The Quint its payment services have not been affected because of Yes Bank APIs going offline.

“Our core business, the payment gateway is unaffected and all settlements (except ones who have Yes Bank current accounts) continue to be processed as per schedule. Our auxiliary services are facing some minor disruptions, we’re working actively with banks to ensure business continuity and we expect to resolve these issues in the next few hours.”

Razorpay spokesperson to The Quint

It is worth mentioning that other third-party UPI payment apps like Google Pay, Mi Pay, Amazon Pay and Samsung Pay are not affected and users will be able to make payments without any restrictions. This is because they have multiple banking partners providing back-end payment solution.

(This is a developing story and will be updated)