SBI Services Hit by Major Outage; YONO, UPI, NEFT & More Affected, Now Fully Restored

India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), experienced a major technical disruption that temporarily impacted several of its core digital banking services. Key platforms including YONO, RTGS, NEFT, UPI, Internet Banking (INB), and IMPS went offline for several hours, affecting users across the country.

Customer Complaints Surge Overnight

According to real-time outage tracking platform DownDetector, the issue began around 1:00 AM, with over 400 customer complaints logged within a short period. Users reported being unable to initiate fund transfers, access their accounts through the YONO app, or complete online transactions using upi and IMPS.

The outage impacted both individual and business users who rely on SBI’s digital services for everyday banking, bill payments, and urgent financial transactions.

Bank Responds, Services Restored by Afternoon

In an official update posted on social media, SBI acknowledged the technical glitch and assured customers that their teams were working on resolving the issue. By 2:00 PM, SBI confirmed that all affected services had been successfully restored and were operating normally.

“We regret the inconvenience caused due to a technical issue impacting our services. The issue has been resolved, and all channels are now operational,” SBI stated.

No Security Breach Reported

While the bank did not disclose the root cause of the issue, it confirmed that there was no data breach or compromise to customer security. The incident appears to be purely technical in nature.

Public Reaction & Digital Banking Challenges

The incident drew sharp responses from customers on social media platforms, with many expressing frustration over the downtime—particularly as it occurred during critical early-morning hours for businesses and online payments.

This is not the first time a major Indian bank has experienced digital service disruptions, highlighting the increasing pressure on banking infrastructure to handle high transaction volumes and ensure 24/7 uptime in an increasingly digital economy.

Looking Ahead

As digital banking becomes central to India’s financial ecosystem, especially through platforms like UPI and apps such as YONO, any disruption has widespread consequences. This outage reinforces the need for stronger redundancy systems, real-time monitoring, and faster communication from banks during service lapses.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ghana marked a transformative moment in India’s engagement with West Africa. In a significant diplomatic breakthrough, India and Ghana signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to bolster cooperation across culture, healthcare, standardization, and institutional dialogue.

The bilateral meeting between PM Modi and Ghanaian President John Mahama not only saw the signing of agreements but also the formal elevation of India-Ghana relations to a Comprehensive Partnership — a move that underscores mutual intent to deepen engagement across multiple domains.

Key Outcomes of the Visit:

• 1. MoUs Signed:
  • Culture: Promoting shared heritage and people-to-people ties.
  • Health: Enhancing cooperation in public health systems and services.
  • Standardisation: Strengthening regulatory frameworks and aligning quality standards.
  • Institutional Dialogue: Fostering structured, high-level communication between government bodies.
• 2. Strategic Sectors Identified for Future Cooperation:
  PM Modi emphasized India’s interest in expanding collaboration in areas of critical minerals, defence manufacturing and training, maritime security, and renewable and conventional energy. These sectors align closely with Ghana’s national development priorities and India’s strategic outreach in the Global South.
• 3. Digital India Goes Global – UPI Push in Africa:
  The leaders discussed the potential integration of India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Ghana, positioning India as a digital solutions provider in Africa. The push aligns with India’s broader agenda of promoting its fintech capabilities on a global stage.
• 4. Cultural and Historical Linkages:
  PM Modi highlighted the deep-rooted historical ties between India and Africa, underscoring the shared struggle against colonialism and a commitment to South-South cooperation. “Enhancing cultural linkages was also talked about,” he wrote on X.

Strategic Significance:

This visit signals India’s growing interest in resource security, particularly in critical minerals essential for clean energy technologies and electronics. Ghana, rich in bauxite, lithium, gold, and other vital minerals, is emerging as a key partner in India’s efforts to secure diversified and reliable supply chains.

At the same time, the focus on defence and maritime security points to India’s larger Indo-Pacific vision, as it seeks to ensure security across sea lanes and expand naval cooperation in the Atlantic-Africa corridor.

In April 2025, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem saw a total of 17.89 billion transactions, showcasing the continued growth of digital payments across India. PhonePe and Google Pay retained their dominant positions, processing 836 crore and 648 crore transactions, respectively, solidifying their leadership in the UPI market.

Meanwhile, FamApp, formerly known as FamPay, made a remarkable leap in the UPI rankings. With nearly 10 crore transactions processed during the month, FamApp surpassed Amazon Pay to become the eighth-largest UPI player. This milestone highlights FamApp’s growing user base and its expanding role in India’s digital payments landscape.

The strong performance of these platforms reflects the increasing adoption of UPI as a preferred method for digital transactions, particularly among consumers in urban and rural areas alike. As UPI continues to drive India’s cashless economy, FamApp’s rise in the rankings is a testament to its innovative offerings and the competitive nature of the digital payments industry.

Digital payments giant PhonePe experienced a service disruption on Monday around 7:30 pm, according to sources familiar with the matter. While the exact cause of the outage remains unclear, a banker speculated that network issues or problems with the app’s customer database might be to blame. The disruption prevented PhonePe from processing person-to-person (P2P) transactions and also hindered its ability to locate accounts linked to upi IDs.

Users quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) to report issues with one of India’s most popular UPI-based payment platforms. PhonePe, backed by Walmart, processed a record 8.3 billion transactions in April 2025 and holds over 45% of the UPI market share. UPI as a whole settled more than 17 billion transactions in April.

This service disruption follows two significant outages on the UPI platform, which is operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services suffered a major disruption across India on Monday evening, marking the third outage in less than a month. Users of popular digital payment apps—such as PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm—reported failed transactions and significant delays in fund transfers.

Downdetector, a service that tracks real-time issues with online platforms, recorded a sharp spike in complaints beginning in the early evening. Over 500 reports were submitted, with 80% related to fund transfer failures, followed by app functionality issues (20%) and payment problems (2%).

Social media platforms were quickly flooded with user reports, screenshots, and complaints about failed payments and app crashes. Many users confirmed either prolonged delays or complete outages when attempting upi transactions. The hashtag #UPIdown trended as frustrated users shared their experiences—some venting, others injecting humor through memes and videos.

As of now, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has not issued an official statement on the cause of the disruption. However, the recurring nature of these outages has raised growing concerns about the reliability of UPI, a system that underpins a significant portion of India’s digital economy.

A widespread technical glitch disrupted Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions across India on Monday evening, marking the third major outage in less than a month. Users of leading digital payment platforms—including Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm—faced transaction failures, causing significant inconvenience for both consumers and businesses.

A surge in complaints on Downdetector reflected the scale of the disruption, while social media platforms were flooded with user reports detailing issues with digital payments. Many Paytm users encountered an error message reading: “UPI app is facing some issues.”

The outage comes amid a period of strong growth for UPI. In March, UPI transactions in India hit a record 18.30 billion, rebounding from a 5% dip in February, which saw 16.11 billion transactions. The total transaction value for March stood at ₹24.77 lakh crore, marking a 12.8% rise from February’s ₹21.96 lakh crore.

PhonePe maintained its leading position in the UPI space during March, processing 864.7 crore transactions—accounting for 47.25% of all UPI activity. Google Pay followed with a 36.04% share of transactions and 34.98% of the total transaction value.

Meanwhile, in a bid to promote digital payments among small vendors, the Indian government has approved a ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme aimed at encouraging low-value transactions via the BHIM-UPI platform.

Google Pay is once again pushing the boundaries of digital payments with the launch of its game-changing voice-activated UPI payment feature. As part of its ongoing efforts to simplify and innovate within the digital finance space, Google Pay is introducing a feature that will allow users to make UPI payments simply by speaking. This addition is set to revolutionize how millions of people in India make payments, making the process more intuitive, seamless, and accessible than ever before.

The Convenience of Voice-Activated Payments

Gone are the days when users had to manually enter recipient details, payment amounts, and navigate through various screens in the app. With the new voice-activated feature, all users need to do is speak. Whether you’re sending money to a friend, paying a merchant, or settling a bill, all it takes is a simple voice command like “Pay ₹500 to [Name]” or “Send ₹1000 to [Merchant Name] for groceries.” The AI-powered system will process the transaction instantly, taking the hassle out of manual payment inputs and reducing the risk of errors.

This voice-based technology offers significant convenience, particularly for those on the go. Busy individuals, drivers, and multitaskers can now make payments without needing to stop and interact with their phone’s interface, making the entire experience quicker and more efficient.

Making Payments More Accessible

In a country like India, where literacy rates can vary and many users may not be fully comfortable with typing or navigating digital interfaces, this voice-activated feature offers a new level of accessibility. By allowing transactions to be initiated with simple spoken commands, Google Pay is breaking down barriers for individuals who may face challenges using traditional payment methods. This feature also holds the potential to bring digital finance to rural and underserved populations, ensuring that everyone, regardless of literacy levels or tech-savviness, can participate in the digital economy.

Further enhancing this accessibility, the system will support multiple local languages through its integration with the Government of India’s Bhasini AI project. This will allow users to interact with Google Pay in their native language, ensuring that voice-based transactions are possible for people across different regions and linguistic backgrounds. For instance, a user could simply say “Pay ₹500 for groceries” in Hindi, Tamil, or any other supported language, making it easier to use the app in diverse contexts.

Boosting Security with AI and Machine Learning

Alongside improving user experience, Google Pay is also doubling down on security. The voice-activated payment system leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to ensure that transactions are safe and accurate. The AI system will verify and authenticate voice commands, ensuring that only authorized users can make payments through their voice. This helps prevent fraudulent transactions and adds an additional layer of security to the payment process.

Moreover, Google’s advanced machine learning algorithms will constantly adapt to understand the user’s voice patterns, accents, and speech nuances, ensuring a high degree of accuracy in voice recognition. This technology will also reduce the likelihood of mistakes or misinterpretations during transactions.

Strengthening Google Pay’s Position in the UPI Market

As of late 2024, Google Pay is one of the leading players in the UPI payment space, holding a 37% market share, just behind PhonePe’s 47.8%. Together, Google Pay and PhonePe dominate the UPI landscape, accounting for more than 80% of the market. This new voice-activated feature is poised to give Google Pay an even greater advantage, attracting more users and further cementing its position as a top choice for UPI transactions.

The integration of voice technology into Google Pay could also lead to increased adoption of digital payments among the wider Indian population, including those who may not have been as familiar with app-based payments. For people who already rely on UPI for their transactions, this new feature offers an extra layer of convenience and modernity, making it even more appealing.

The Future of Digital Payments

This voice-activated UPI payment feature marks just the beginning of what could be a transformative shift in how digital payments are made in India and beyond. As Google continues to invest in AI, machine learning, and voice recognition technologies, we can expect more advanced and user-friendly payment solutions to emerge. Whether it’s enhancing the safety of online transactions or enabling users to pay in their local language, Google Pay is determined to stay at the forefront of innovation in the digital payment space.

In conclusion, Google Pay’s voice-activated UPI payments are set to make digital transactions easier, faster, and more inclusive. With a focus on accessibility, security, and user experience, this feature has the potential to not only revolutionize how people make payments but also drive the adoption of digital payments in India’s rapidly growing economy. Get ready for a smarter, safer, and more convenient way to make payments with Google Pay—your voice is all you need.