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The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is preparing to enable the transfer of automatic payment mandates via the UPI AutoPay system across different payment applications, a strategic move designed to reduce user lock-in and foster competition in the digital payments market.

Seamless Mandate Transfers

The upcoming feature will allow users to migrate eligible recurring payment mandates from one UPI app to another without the hassle of canceling the existing mandate and setting up a new one. The transfer process is initiated at the user's request and securely authenticated using their UPI PIN.

Transferable mandates cover a wide array of recurring payments, including streaming service subscriptions, insurance premiums, monthly investments, financing installments, and utility bills. Under the new system, a user with an active AutoPay mandate on PhonePe, for example, could seamlessly transfer it to Google Pay or any other UPI application, provided the mandate meets the transferability requirements.

Leveling the Playing Field

This initiative targets a major factor contributing to user retention for dominant apps like Paytm, PhonePe, and Google Pay. Previously, the administrative burden of reconfiguring multiple recurring payments deterred users from switching platforms. By eliminating this obstacle, the portability feature provides smaller UPI applications with a much stronger opportunity to attract users from major platforms.

Explosive Growth & Merchant Portability

The move aligns with the broader AutoPay development framework established by NPCI in 2025, which introduced interoperability for payment mandates across UPI apps. It coincides with surging UPI AutoPay adoption; India’s top 10 banks processed approximately 1.8 billion UPI e-mandate transactions in July 2026, a more than threefold increase from the 585 million transactions recorded in July 2025.

Beyond individual users, NPCI is also working to extend this portability to merchants, enabling businesses to shift existing AutoPay mandates between different payment service providers. While industry experts do not expect an immediate, drastic shift in market share for the top apps, dismantling this lock-in effect will likely grant smaller competitors vital leverage in a highly concentrated ecosystem.