Payment Gateway Questions & Answers

If your SaaS invoicing tool handles UPI payments for term deposit (FD) openings, you really need to monitor daily UPI inflows both for compliance and to avoid hitting PSP caps.

It’s not about tracking each payment it’s about spotting when total UPI volume or value starts spiking.

Here’s what to set up:

• Daily Aggregate Value Alert

Trigger an alert when total UPI receipts for term deposits cross a set threshold (say ₹50 L or ₹1 Cr per day).

Why:

Banks and PSPs impose soft caps on total daily inflows for high-value UPI handles. Crossing that cap could delay settlements or block new payments.

• Transaction Volume Spike Alert

Set a rule for when total number of UPI transactions jumps by, say, 30–50% vs. average.

Why:

A sudden increase could mean automation bugs (duplicate posting) or customer retries due to PSP failures.

• High-Value Receipt Alert

Alert on any single UPI payment above ₹1.5L–₹2L.

Why:

UPI caps vary by bank, and if you’re receiving unusually large payments, that’s worth a quick check before settlement files bounce.

• Pending Settlement Alert

Every day, compare UPI Success count vs. UPI Settled count from NPCI files.

Alert if pending settlements > 5% of daily volume.

Why:

That usually means a mismatch in your ledger or delayed RRN posting.

• Partner-Wise Cap Tracker

Track UPI usage per partner bank or VPA (e.g., icicibank@upi, hdfcbank@upi).

Alert if:

Total inflows for any partner > 80% of their assigned daily limit.

That gives ops teams time to route new deposits via another partner.

• Reversal or Refund Spike Alert

Monitor sudden increases in reversed or refunded RRNs.

Why:

Could mean failed FD creations, PSP instability, or a problem with split payments.

• UPI Failure Rate Alert

If failure rate (failed RRNs ÷ total attempts) exceeds 10–15% in a day, alert finance + tech teams.

Why:

ight indicate PSP downtime or broken UPI intents.

To test refunds and chargebacks for term deposit UPI payments under new limits:

• Cover both within-limit and over-limit refund scenarios
• Retain purpose code INVS_TD in refund payloads
• Verify ledger impact and settlement file matching
• Simulate timeout, duplicate, and delayed chargebacks
• Ensure daily UPI caps remain compliant even after reversals

To test refunds and chargebacks for term deposit UPI flows in your ERP finance module:

• Simulate various refund sizes around the ₹10L cap.
• Validate purpose code tagging (TDOPEN).
• Test fallback routing (NEFT/RTGS when limits reached).
• Ensure ledger reversals post correctly.
• Trigger alerts on refund or chargeback anomalies.

To test refunds and chargebacks for FD openings under new UPI caps:

• Simulate pre- and post-settlement refunds.
• Verify RRNs are linked correctly.
• Ensure refunds don’t count as inflows.
• Test refund behavior when PSP/bank caps are hit.
• Always reconcile with NPCI files (R-17, R-19, R-22).

When the UPI system starts supporting higher-value credit card bill payments, your reconciliation software can’t just treat those as normal UPI inflows the amounts, timing, and audit requirements change. You’ll need to tweak your settlement and ledger rules to make sure those receipts are matched and posted correctly.

Here’s what you should update:

• Create category-based reconciliation buckets:

Set up a new reconciliation rule specifically for UPI – Credit Card Bill Payments. Don’t merge it with generic UPI collections. This allows your system to compare each receipt against NPCI’s category-wise settlement files or PSP reports more accurately.

• Adjust for delayed or split settlements:

High-value UPI transactions might settle across multiple windows or even days. Update your reconciliation logic to allow T+1/T+2 settlement matching instead of assuming same-day clearance. Also, group split transactions (due to per-transaction caps) under one parent settlement batch ID.

• Use UPI reference + purpose code as match keys:

For large payments, matching just by amount and date isn’t reliable. Add NPCI’s purpose code (e.g., P1003 for credit card bills) and the UPI reference ID as composite keys in your matching logic. This helps prevent mismatched or duplicate entries during reconciliation.

• Update clearing and final ledger mapping:

Route high-value receipts first into a UPI Clearing – Credit Card Bill Payments ledger. Move them to the main Credit Card Bill Receipts account only after settlement confirmation. This mirrors how NEFT/IMPS high-value payments are reconciled in banking.

• Introduce reversal-handling logic:

If an over-limit attempt or timeout triggers an automatic reversal, your reconciliation engine should pick it up and post it as a debit entry against the same clearing ledger, referencing the original UPI transaction ID. This prevents open items in reports.

• Flag out-of-band settlements:

Occasionally, PSPs might batch-settle high-value UPI transactions separately from regular ones. Set up a rule to detect and flag those for manual review (e.g., Settlement received but not matched within 48 hours).

• Maintain audit traceability:

Every reconciled entry should retain metadata like UPI purpose code, payer VPA, and timestamp. This ensures your audit logs can prove compliance with NPCI’s category-wise cap reporting requirements.

Honestly, this is one of those boring but super important changes that came after the Sept 15, 2025 UPI update. NPCI bumped limits for certain categories like term deposits, insurance premiums, and capital market investments up to ₹10L per day in some cases.

The problem? Most users (and even devs) don’t realize their bank or PSP (PhonePe, Paytm, Razorpay, etc.) might already support higher UPI limits. So your ERP needs to tell them in real-time whether they’re good to go for a high-value payment.

Here’s how I’d approach it:

• Check the user’s actual UPI limits via the PSP API

Most UPI PSPs now let you query a user’s limit metadata using their VPA.
So when someone enters something like user@icici, you hit an endpoint like:
GET /upi/v1/limits?vpa=user@icici

and get back a response that tells you if that category (term deposits = TDOPEN) supports higher limits.

If it says eligible: true, show a banner that says:

Your bank supports high-value UPI deposits (up to ₹10L). You can proceed safely.

If not, fallback to a gentle warning:

Your current UPI account may have a ₹1L cap. Try NEFT/RTGS for larger deposits.

• Use the new NPCI purpose codes

UPI transactions now carry category tags TDOPEN for term deposits, INSURANCE, CAPMKT, etc.

Your ERP should use those to check if the user’s bank supports higher caps for that specific purpose.

If the purpose code is recognized and supported, show that eligibility message.

If not, hide the high-limit banner to avoid confusion.

• Add dynamic messages in the payment screen

Instead of one static Pay via UPI button, make it context-aware:

• If eligible → show High-value UPI enabled (₹10L cap)
• If not → show UPI limit ₹1L try NEFT for larger deposits

Little thing, but it saves tons of failed transactions and support tickets.

• Tag this info in backend logs

Once the eligibility is confirmed, tag the transaction with a flag like
upi_high_value=true.

This helps with reconciliation and audit trails later especially when settlement teams are figuring out why some UPI payments show up in the high-value bucket.

• Show it on receipts too

After payment succeeds, include a line like:
Paid via UPI (High-Value Limit Enabled ₹10,00,000 cap).
Auditors love this kind of transparency.

Finance teams should:

• Track daily aggregate UPI inflows for term deposits (purpose_code = INVS_TD)
• Set threshold alerts (85% and 100%)
• Watch for settlement delays and ledger mismatches
• Use Slack + webhook-based notifications
• Auto-switch to fallback methods when nearing daily cap

Identify the merchant category upfront.

When your checkout loads, tag the transaction as CREDIT_CARD_BILL_PAYMENT (using MCC or an internal category field). This tells your backend to pull the right UPI cap for that transaction type. Fetch the correct category limits.

Your backend (or payment gateway) should maintain a small lookup table synced with NPCI/PSP rules, for example:

• Credit Card Bill Payments → ₹2,00,000 per txn, ₹10,00,000 per day
• Regular P2M → ₹1,00,000 per txn

You can either store this locally or fetch it from the gateway during checkout initialization.

Validate before initiating UPI intent or collect.

Before firing the UPI intent (deep link or QR), run a quick check:

if (txn_amount > category_limit_per_txn || 

daily_total_for_user + txn_amount > category_limit_daily) {

showError(This payment exceeds your UPI limit for credit card bills. Try a smaller amount or net banking.)

blockProceed()

}

This prevents limit-related declines after the user’s PSP gets involved — saving you from failed payment frustration.

Add real-time PSP validation (optional but ideal).

Some banks and PSPs (like PhonePe or Google Pay) will start returning metadata in their /validate or /collect APIs with updated caps. If available, use that response to dynamically override your local limits.

Show clear user messaging.

If someone tries to pay ₹3 lakh and the per-transaction cap is ₹2 lakh, show a message like:

UPI supports up to ₹2,00,000 per transaction for credit card bill payments. You can split this into multiple payments or use net banking.

That’s way better than just showing a generic Transaction failed.

Log validations for audits.

Save each pre-validation check (amount, cap, PSP handle, timestamp) — NPCI and auditors might later require evidence that you enforced caps correctly

• Differentiate high-value UPI transactions in the ledger.

Create a separate sub-ledger or GL code for UPI, Credit Card Bill Payments (High-Value) instead of lumping everything into your generic UPI receipts account. This helps auditors trace which transactions used the extended UPI limit versus regular consumer payments.

• Update settlement mapping logic.

Since large-value UPI payments may settle through different PSP routes or delayed settlement windows (especially if they’re processed after the daily cutoff), your engine should tag settlement entries with PSP IDs, timestamps, and settlement references from the bank/NPCI. This ensures that when reconciliation happens, you’re not mismatching next-day settlements with same-day ledger postings.

• Handle split and partial payments cleanly.

If your checkout auto-splits transactions to stay under the per-transaction cap, map each split leg to a unique transaction reference but post them under the same invoice ID. The GL should record both the original invoice and each UPI leg separately so finance can see exactly how the total was cleared.

• Introduce a Pending Settlement interim ledger.

For high-value payments that settle after a delay (which happens with some PSPs on weekends or after cap-based processing windows), the receipt should first hit a Pending UPI Settlement ledger and only move to Final UPI Receipts after the settlement webhook confirms success.

• Include UPI reference IDs in journal entries.

Make the NPCI or PSP UPI reference number part of your journal entry metadata (not just the transaction table). This helps your finance team trace payments directly to settlement files during audits.

• Apply updated reconciliation rules.

Ensure your reconciliation engine checks that the PSP settlement file total matches both your UPI – Credit Card Bill Payments (High-Value) ledger and the Pending Settlement ledger before closing the day’s books.

When UPI limits increase for credit card bill payments, your accounting package has to treat those receipts differently from regular low-value UPI transactions. The key is making sure your settlement and ledger mappings reflect the new transaction classes, delayed settlements, and possible splits across caps.

Here’s how you should update the rules

• Add category-based ledger mapping:

Credit card bill payments should map to a separate UPI – Credit Card Bill Receipts ledger (instead of the generic UPI Receipts account). This helps you reconcile large-value transactions and generate purpose-code-specific reports later.

• Differentiate settlement timing:

High-value UPI payments might settle on T+1 or T+2 cycles depending on the acquirer’s load. Update your settlement rule engine so it only marks receipts as cleared after confirmation from the UPI PSP (not just after payment initiation).

• Introduce split-settlement logic:

If your accounting app or connected PSP splits a single large payment into multiple UPI transactions (due to per-transaction caps), you should post those as separate receipt entries linked under one parent settlement ID. This avoids reconciliation mismatches.

• Add interim holding accounts:

Route incoming high-value UPI credits first to a UPI Clearing – Credit Card Payments ledger until settlement confirmation is received. Once settled, move them automatically to the Credit Card Bill Receipts account. This mirrors how large-value NEFT/RTGS settlements are handled.

• Purpose code tagging for audits:

Make sure every transaction carries the NPCI-mandated purpose code (e.g., P1003 for credit card bill payments). Store this at the journal-entry level — it’ll make your audit trail watertight.

• Handle reversals and chargebacks cleanly:

If a reversal happens (say, due to wrong card number or timeout), ensure your reversal entry references the original UPI transaction ID, not just the settlement batch. This ensures the correct ledger pair (debit/credit) updates automatically.

• Reconciliation updates:

Your reconciliation logic should now match transactions not just by amount and date, but also by category and UPI reference ID, especially since these high-value transactions might settle in a different window from standard payments.