The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has updated the rules for small-value digital payments in offline mode, raising the transaction limits for UPI Lite.

The revised guidelines now allow a maximum of Rs. 1,000 per transaction, with an overall wallet limit of Rs. 5,000. This change has been implemented immediately, marking a significant increase from the previous limits, which were set at Rs. 500 per transaction and Rs. 2,000 as the total limit for offline payments.

This amendment is part of the RBI's ongoing effort to promote the use of UPI Lite, a simplified version of the popular UPI payment system. The updated limits are expected to encourage more people to adopt this fast and easy method of digital payment, especially in areas with limited internet connectivity.

Under the new framework, users can now store up to Rs. 5,000 in their UPI Lite wallet, and make payments of up to Rs. 1,000 per transaction without needing to enter a UPI PIN or wait for real-time transaction alerts.

While UPI Lite transactions are "offline" in the sense that they do not require an active internet or telecom connection, users still need to manually load funds into their UPI Lite wallets. However, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is developing an auto top-up feature to make the process more seamless and eliminate the need for manual reloading.

Many popular payment apps like Google Pay and PhonePe already offer UPI Lite services, and with these new enhancements, the system is expected to become even more convenient for users looking for quick, offline digital payments.