New Delhi, April 1 (IANS) The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) saw a 13.59 per cent increase (on-month) in transaction volume at 18.3 billion in the month of March, from 16.11 billion in February, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data showed on Tuesday.

The month of March saw a record Rs 24.77 lakh crore worth UPI-based transactions, up 12.79 per cent from Rs 21.96 lakh crore in February.

On a daily basis, the UPI network recorded more than 590 million average transactions at Rs 79,910 crore daily transaction count, according to the NPCI data.

On a year-on-year basis, the record-breaking UPI transactions of Rs 24.77 lakh crore in March marked a 25 per cent surge in value and an impressive 36 per cent growth in volume, demonstrating the unstoppable momentum of India’s digital payments revolution.

With daily transactions averaging Rs 79,910 crore, up 1.9 per cent from February, and volumes rising 2.6 per cent, these numbers underscore the rapid adoption and trust in digital financial solutions.

Meanwhile, as digital payment users on Tuesday faced issues in processing transactions on UPI, the NPCI attributed the reason to the closing of the financial year 2024-25 (FY25).

"Today, due to the financial year closing, some of the banks are facing intermittent transaction declines. UPI system is working fine, and we are working with the concerned banks for necessary redressal," the NPCI said in a statement.

From April 1, it will be mandatory for UPI member banks, UPI apps, and third-party providers to follow these new guidelines.

According to the new norms, the UPI ID linked to the inactive mobile number will become inactive. That is, if the mobile number registered with the bank of a UPI user is inactive for a long time, then the UPI ID of the user will also be unlinked, and the person will not be able to use the UPI service.

In such a situation, every person using the UPI service will need to ensure that the mobile number registered with his bank is active.

Under the new guidelines, the user's bank-verified mobile number will act as the user's UPI identifier. On the other hand, banks and UPI applications will also need to update their mobile number records every week so that mistakes caused by recycled or modified numbers can be avoided.