The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is developing a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) feature that will allow customers to pay at merchant terminals without internet access, according to a Business Standard report. The system will use near-field communication (NFC) technology to process payments of up to Rs 2,000 by tapping a phone on an offline point-of-sale (PoS) device.
NPCI is expected to begin certifying PoS terminals from major manufacturers in 2026. This feature is intended for areas with limited or no connectivity, such as aircraft cabins and underground metro networks.
How would payment work? Customers must pre-load funds to their on-device UPI Lite wallet while online. The stored balance can then be used for offline payments without requiring a UPI PIN.
A fintech industry source told Business Standard that PoS companies must obtain NPCI certification before accepting offline UPI payments, after which they can develop supporting applications. A second source said the system captures tap-based authorisation at the terminal and forwards the transaction for verification once network connectivity is restored.
According to the report, banks and third-party UPI app providers are independently developing this capability within their own apps.
Not the same as UPI Lite X: This is not NPCI’s first offline or NFC-based payment solution. UPI Lite X, launched in September 2023, already supports fully offline transactions, including person-to-person transfers between NFC enabled phones and person-to-merchant payments using NFC-enabled QR codes, soundboxes, or stickers, as outlined in NPCI’s January 2024 guidelines.
The key difference in the newly reported system is the acceptance hardware. Rather than using NFC tags, QR codes, or soundboxes, payments would be processed through a certified conventional PoS terminal, even when the terminal is offline.
NPCI’s BHIM-UPI branding guidelines, updated in June 2026, include design specifications for NFC-enabled QR codes and soundboxes with “Scan or Tap to Pay” messaging. However, these guidelines address only merchant-facing presentation and do not reference the offline PoS certification program.
The Rs 2,000 figure doesn’t match existing RBI limits: The reported Rs 2,000 per-transaction ceiling does not match the limits currently published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Under the RBI’s offline digital payments framework, introduced in January 2022 and last updated in December 2024, a single offline transaction is capped at Rs 500, with a maximum offline balance of Rs 2,000 per instrument. UPI Lite permits payments of up to Rs 1,000 per transaction and a total wallet balance of Rs 5,000.
The RBI’s National Strategy for Financial Inclusion 2025-30, released in 2026, specifies for UPI Lite X a Rs 500 per-transaction cap, a Rs 4,000 daily cumulative limit, and a Rs 2,000 maximum balance.
The report cites Rs 2,000 as the per-transaction…
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