Wire · founder news, decoded · technology
NPCI developing offline UPI feature for payments without internet
◆ Published
22 July 2026
◆ Topic
technology
◆ Sectors
◆ Geography
◆ Source
◆ Verified
Fusion42 · 22 July 2026 · Fusion42 review
India's National Payments Corporation is developing an offline UPI feature using NFC technology, allowing transactions up to Rs 2,000 without internet connectivity by end-2026. PoS providers must obtain NPCI certification to accept offline payments.
This Wire brief sits within Fusion42's coverage of Fintech. 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
If you build payment hardware or software for India's PoS market, you now have a hard deadline and a certification gate. NPCI certification becomes mandatory by end-2026 to accept offline UPI—that's your moat and your bottleneck.
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◆ Topics
Fintech · offline-payments · nfc-technology · upi-lite · point-of-sale · india-fintech