1 day Ago By Shashank Didmishe
1 2 3 Pune: The downtime of the united payments interface (UPI) on Saturday caused a major disruption for consumers and businesses in various parts of the city. People transacting at small businesses, especially mom-and-pop stores or juice shops, were impacted as these establishments do not have the infrastructure for accepting payments through debit or credit cards. Those without cash were forced to find an ATM which had cash available.
"I was surprised to see that the UPI transaction failed twice while trying to pay the bill at a restaurant after finishing a family meal. Thankfully, I had my debit card. If I had not carried my cards, it would have been a major hassle," IT professional Amey Shinde said.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates UPI, on Saturday said it was facing technical issues leading to partial transaction failures and it was working towards resolving them. Prashant Girbane, director general of MCCIA, told TOI: "We cannot afford to have outages in UPI that has become the bloodline of financial transactions in India, especially for tens of millions of micro enterprises and retailers." There has been a significant reliance on UPI, said Dhruv Ruparel, president of Pune Petrol Dealers Association.
"The practice at pumps is that people first fill their fuel tanks and then make payment. So in cases where transactions did not go through, commuters had to park their vehicles to get cash. Payments through cards for small-ticket transactions are very low," he said.
Kothrud resident Tushar Pawar said he was paying mobile bill and the transaction did not go through. "I initially thought it was a network issue, but I got to know later on social media that UPI was down. The money was not debited from my account, so I would not have to wait for the refund.
" For customers of high-end hotels, UPI failure was an inconvenience, but it did not hamper payments as these consumers rarely use the platform, said Amit Sharma, president of Poona Hoteliers Association. Seema Kulkarni from Baner said being the weekend, ATMs generally are low on cash. "I tried three booths before I could withdraw some cash.
" "Some people at a mall in Warje had failed transactions, and their money was debited. They had to wait till they got back a refund and had to make the payments again," Monica Advani, who was shopping at the mall, said..
