Mumbai: In a major shake-up to India’s digital payments ecosystem, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that UPI’s person-to-person (P2P) collect request feature will be permanently discontinued starting October 1. The move will impact millions of users on platforms like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and other UPI-based apps, who will no longer be able to send “payment request” prompts to friends, family, or acquaintances.
The decision follows repeated misuse of the feature by cybercriminals, who have been sending fraudulent requests disguised as legitimate transactions. Many unsuspecting users have been tricked into authorizing payments, leading to monetary losses.
NPCI had earlier tried to contain the fraud by limiting each collect request to ₹2,000 and capping daily transactions, but scams continued. “We have taken this step to protect user trust and maintain UPI’s reputation for security,” an NPCI official said.
The discontinuation will be phased in over the next few weeks. Importantly, merchant collect requests — used by services like Flipkart, Amazon, Swiggy, and IRCTC — will remain unaffected. These transactions will still require users to approve and enter their UPI PIN before payment.
For personal transfers, users can continue making payments via Scan & Pay, entering the recipient’s UPI ID or phone number, or using their saved contacts in the app. However, the convenience of simply sending a “please pay me” notification will vanish.
