On February 10, there was a major glitch in India’s UPI system. Apps like Google Pay, PhonePe were affected, due to which millions of users were unable to transact. This nationwide disruption exposed our dependence on digital payments and the vulnerabilities of the system.
New Delhi: India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) suffered a major outage on the evening of Tuesday, February 10, leaving millions of people unable to complete transactions. The outage affected popular apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm, and users were repeatedly getting error messages like “Service Provider is not available”. News of failed payments, fund transfers and QR code scans spread quickly on social media and outage trackers. Complaints flooded in from major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, confirming that the problem was widespread across the country. Many users tried different banks and apps but were unsuccessful, forcing them to resort to cash or cards for essential purchases.
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs UPI, did not immediately confirm when the news surfaced. The notice advised users to wait or try other alternatives, but as the outage continued, public anger grew. Given the deep penetration of UPI in everyday life, this outage showed how dependent we are on easy digital payments.
While technical glitches have occurred in the past, often linked to bank server problems or API challenges, the scale of this outage exposed the fragility of India’s digital economy, a veteran banking expert said. Previous disruptions had been brief, and NPCI worked with banks to restore services quickly, but the February 10 incident lasted much longer.
The timing of this disruption has reignited debate about the strength of India’s payments infrastructure. UPI handles millions of transactions daily, and even a brief outage can impact business, consumer confidence and the entire ecosystem. Experts say there is a complex coordination of banks, apps and APIs that makes real-time settlements possible, but when any link goes weak it also puts the system at risk.