Pune, 11 February 2026: UPI services across several nationalised and local banks were abruptly disrupted on Tuesday evening, causing inconvenience to citizens and delaying lakhs of digital transactions. The outage began around 6 pm, during peak hours, when users were unable to send or receive money through UPI platforms.
Many users reported messages such as “payment pending due to UPI network confirmation” or “the recipient bank’s server is currently unavailable.” As a result, routine transactions at grocery stores, petrol pumps, hotels, and online platforms were affected.
Commuters returning from work and citizens dependent on cashless payments faced the brunt of the disruption, with several transactions remaining incomplete or stuck in limbo.
In some cases, amounts were debited from bank accounts but not credited to the recipient immediately, leading to confusion and anxiety among users. Services gradually began returning to normal after 8 pm, though the incident triggered criticism and renewed concerns over the reliability of digital payment infrastructure.
Sharing his experience, IT professional Suhas More said, “I was paying for vegetables through UPI, but the transaction kept failing. I had no cash and had to wait for nearly half an hour. It made me realise how dependent we have become on UPI. I later received a message around 9 pm saying the transaction was cancelled.”
Similarly, homemaker Anjali Kumbhar said, “While paying an online bill, I repeatedly got a message saying the bank server was down. I wasn’t sure whether the money had gone through or not. After several attempts, the payment was finally credited late at night.”
Meanwhile, amid concerns over UPI reliability, the central government reiterated in Parliament that the system remains secure. Responding to a starred question raised by MP Prof. Dr. Medha Kulkarni in the Rajya Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that UPI is a safe, fast, and affordable digital payment system.
In a written reply, Sitharaman said UPI is currently operational in eight countries, Bhutan, France, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United Arab Emirates. She added that over the last three financial years, UPI transactions have crossed 14.86 lakh crore in volume.
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary further noted that the international expansion of UPI is handled by NPCI International, in coordination with the Reserve Bank of India and partner countries, through technical solutions and bilateral cooperation.
The government maintained that despite occasional technical disruptions, UPI’s global acceptance is growing steadily, making cross-border digital payments easier for Indian travellers.
