UPI technical transaction failures rise among India’s top 20 banks

Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) indicates a deterioration in payment processing stability among the country's 20 largest banks. Technical declines—attributable to server downtime or network outages—rose to 0.24% in September, a noticeable uptick from the 0.18% recorded in August.

Individual performance varied significantly across the sector. ICICI Bank reported the highest technical failure rate at 0.73%, a substantial increase from 0.03% the previous month. Similarly, State Bank of India and Kotak Mahindra Bank saw their technical decline rates climb to 0.38% and 0.36%, respectively.

Beyond technical issues, 'business declines'—transactions rejected due to user errors like incorrect PINs or exceeding limits—also saw a marginal increase, rising from 10.85% to 10.88%. Fino Payments Bank and Airtel Payments Bank recorded the highest rates of business-related rejections.

Despite the rise in failure rates, the total transaction volume among the top 20 banks declined to 23.47 billion in September, down from 23.92 billion in August. While these figures represent a fraction of the total UPI network, they highlight ongoing infrastructure challenges for major Indian lenders as they manage high-frequency digital payment demands.