Earlier this morning, a widespread outage of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) disrupted digital transactions, with numerous users reporting issues with the instant payment system. According to DownDetector, a platform that tracks service disruptions based on user reports, problems with UPI began around 11:26 AM. The outage peaked at around 11:41 AM, with over 222 reports of digital payment issues.
Users express frustration
Users on social media platform X expressed frustration as they encountered difficulties making payments on platforms like Paytm and Google Pay. One user noted, “UPI is down again today, all payments are failing. There should at least be prior notification in case of a planned outage.”
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has not yet confirmed the status of the outage, and the issue remains unresolved. This marks the sixth major UPI outage in the past year.
In quick succession
Last month as well, UPI services came to an abrupt halt, leaving millions of users stuck while trying to make daily payments. From buying a snack to paying for a ride home, people were frustrated and helpless as their favorite payment apps– PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm– were down.
What happened?
What should have been a normal Wednesday turned into a nationwide digital crisis last month. People were unable to make payments or even log into their payment apps, causing widespread frustration. Whether you were trying to buy groceries, pay for a ride, or send money to a friend, the failure of UPI was causing problems everywhere.
Hilarious tweets and memes flood social media
As the situation unfolded, social media was buzzing with reactions– most of them hilarious, as people used humour to cope with the inconvenience. Memes were flooding in, capturing the frustration of suddenly being unable to pay.
Here was one reaction that summed it up perfectly: “UPI is down for the first time & it is already showing an impact. Most of us already stopped carrying liquid cash & this downtime has created a do-or-die situation. Elders were right about carrying cash.”