The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has said that from February 1 no apps can use special characters in Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction ID. All such information has to be alphanumeric.
The move aims to improve the popular digital payments platform’s security and ensure compliance with technical specifications.
“We have been working with the ecosystem to improve compliance, though the issue has been largely resolved, it is observed that a few of the participants continue to be non-compliant. Considering the criticality of compliance to the specifications, it has been decided not to allow any special characters in UPI transaction ID. Any transaction with ID containing special characters shall be declined by the central system. This shall be effective 1st February 2025,” according to an UPI circular dated January 9.
