The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has released a major update for UPI users. From October 1, 2025, the Person-to-Person (P2P) Collect Request feature on UPI will be completely discontinued. This means that UPI apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm will no longer be able to send requests to ask for money from anyone. The move is aimed at making online payments more secure and preventing incidents of fraud.
What is the Collect Request feature?
UPI’s Collect Request feature allows users to ask for money from another person. For example, if you shared a dinner bill with a friend, you could send a money request with this feature. This feature was introduced to make small transactions easier between friends or family. But, scammers started taking advantage of it.
How did scammers misuse it?
Many times scammers used to send fake collect requests to users by posing as bank officials, relatives or acquaintances. As soon as users approved such requests, money was deducted from their account. To deal with this problem, NPCI had already limited the amount of collect request to Rs 2,000. But now it has been decided to remove this feature completely, so that the risk of fraud is completely eliminated.
What will be the effect on users?
UPI users will not be able to send collect requests after October 1, 2025. To send money, now only QR code has to be scanned or payment has to be made to the direct contact. This will make the payment process more secure, but for small transactions, users will now have to initiate the payment themselves.
No change for merchants
This new rule will apply only to P2P transactions. Merchants, such as Amazon, Flipkart, Swiggy, or Zomato, will still be able to send payment requests through their checkout systems. These transactions require user approval and a UPI PIN, which already makes them secure.
Why is this change necessary?
This decision of NPCI is a big step towards making digital payments more reliable. In the last few years, cases of fraud through UPI have increased, and collect requests have been a major reason for this. By discontinuing this feature, NPCI is trying to protect users from scammers.
If you are a UPI user, know about this change before October 1 and also tell your friends and family. Avoid approving any unknown collect request and always check the identity of the sender.
