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Wire · technology

NPCI wants phone numbers masked, talks on with banks, UPI apps to improve privacy

Published

28 July 2026

Topic

technology

Sectors

Payments

Geography

India

Source

Read at moneycontrol.com

Verified

Fusion42 · 28 July 2026 · Fusion42 review

India's NPCI is negotiating with banks and UPI app developers to mask phone numbers in transaction flows, addressing privacy concerns in the country's digital payments infrastructure. The move aims to reduce personal data exposure while maintaining the functionality of UPI's phone-number-based payment identifiers.

This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Payments. Wire is Fusion42's founder-focused intelligence feed: each story is connected to the funds and startups it names — every one with a live profile on Raise or Scout — so founders can follow the capital and the momentum behind the headline rather than just the headline itself. Wire analysis is one of the live surfaces Arthur reasons over.

◆ The Wire takeaway

UPI's core mechanic—payments routed through phone numbers—is about to change. If you're building payment flows, risk scoring, or fraud detection on top of UPI, your integration now depends on how NPCI implements masking, and you'll need to adapt within the next six months.

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Topics

Paymentsupi-privacyphone-maskingindia-paymentsdata-protectionfintech-regulation