Published 05th October 2026
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
https://in.linkedin.com/in/prashantnayakanti
The Intro
CO55 asked:
Is My UPI Number Journey Clear?
Now I move to an even more basic question:
Who am I paying?
I may scan a QR code.
I may enter a UPI ID.
I may use a UPI Number.
I may simply pay a merchant.
But before I press Pay, I want one thing to be clear:
Who is on the other side of my payment?
This is important so the BP does not shoot up, once the payment is made.
Sections 2.13, 2.14 and 2.15 — Beneficiary and Merchant
Identification.
The circular goes beyond simply routing a payment.
It requires the beneficiary's name to be conveyed and
displayed to the User before the transaction is initiated, so that the User can
verify it. UPI-Consolidated-Circular (1)(1)
For merchant transactions, it also addresses how the end
beneficiary's identity is to be conveyed and displayed.
And there is an important customer-facing point:
A name captured from a QR code or entered by the User cannot
simply become the beneficiary name displayed for the transaction.
UPI-Consolidated-Circular (1)(1)
That gives CO57 its customer question:
Before I press Pay, do I clearly know who I am
paying?
The Prospective Audience
The UPI customer making a payment.
Not the merchant acquirer.
Not the PSP.
Not the QR infrastructure.
The person standing in front of the payment screen.
The person who wants to know:
Who is this payment going to?
Is the displayed name reliable?
Is this the merchant I intended to pay?
Can I verify before I authorise?
CO51 — What should I look for?
↓
CO53 — Will I be told clearly?
↓
CO55 — Is my UPI Number journey clear?
↓
CO57 — Do I clearly know who I am paying?
Act I — Before I Press Pay
A UPI payment can begin in many ways.
I scan a QR code.
I enter a UPI ID.
I use a UPI Number.
I select a merchant.
But before I authorise the payment, the circular says
transaction details — including the beneficiary name — should be displayed to
me. This is an additional step before authentication.
§2.6 | Page 7 | UPI-Consolidated-Circular UPI-Consolidated-Circular
(1)(1)
That sounds like a small step.
For me, it is not.
It gives me a moment to pause and ask:
Is this the person or merchant I intended to pay?
Act II — The Name I See Matters
The circular becomes more specific when it comes to merchant
transactions.
For every merchant transaction, the Payee PSP has to convey
the identity of the end Beneficiary.
For a Verified Merchant, the validated brand name is to be
conveyed.
For a non-verified Merchant, the circular provides for the CBS
name or validated brand name.
And where the merchant transaction involves credit to a User's
account on an aggregator platform — including credit card payments, NETC
recharge and wallet payments — the end Beneficiary is to be identified by the
registered name for that User.
§2.14 | Page 8 | UPI-Consolidated-Circular
UPI-Consolidated-Circular (1)(1)
So the question is no longer simply:
Did my payment go through?
It becomes:
Did I know who I was paying before I authorised it?
Act III — Can the Name Be Changed?
There is another detail that caught my attention.
The circular says names captured from QR codes or User-defined
names should not be displayed as the Beneficiary's name for transaction
purposes.
It also requires UPI Application Providers to disable any
option that allows Users to modify the Beneficiary's name for transaction
purposes.
§2.15 | Page 8 | UPI-Consolidated-Circular
UPI-Consolidated-Circular (1)(1)
That makes the customer moment even clearer.
I scan.
I see the name.
I verify.
Then I authorise.
For me, that is more than a display requirement.
It is a moment of trust.
Citizen Observation — One
Observation at a Time
A UPI payment may take only a few seconds.
But somewhere between scan and Pay is a very important
customer moment:
Who am I paying?
The Consolidated Circular addresses that moment through
beneficiary identification, merchant identity and the information displayed
before authorisation.
I am simply looking at it one customer moment at a time.
Citizen Observation — One Observation at a Time.
Closing Thought
A payment can be fast.
A payment can be convenient.
But before I press Pay, I want to know one simple thing:
Who is on the other side?
For me, knowing the beneficiary is not just about completing a
transaction.
It is about having a moment to verify before I trust.
April 11 — Proposed Digital Transactions Day
This is another small connection to my proposal for April 11 —
Digital Transactions Day ( UPI Beta Launch in 2016)
Digital payments have made transactions faster.
But as the journey evolves, the customer should also have
opportunities to pause, understand and verify.
CO57 is one such pause.
One payment.
One identity.
One customer observation.
Yes, still mistakes can happen.
Disclaimer
This Citizen Observation is based on the UPI Consolidated Circular, Version 1.0
dated 18 September 2026, issued by NPCI.
The observations are made from a customer/citizen perspective
and are not intended to constitute a technical interpretation, regulatory
opinion, implementation instruction or criticism of NPCI, banks, PSPs, UPI
Application Providers or any other ecosystem participant.
Readers are requested to focus on the information,
notifications and instructions provided by their respective banks and UPI
service providers for their individual circumstances.
The purpose of this observation is to encourage customer
awareness and understanding of the UPI journey.
The Joy of Digital Transactions
Nayakanti Prashant
3rd Gen Banker & Citizen Lobbyist – Bengaluru
Advocating Digital Transactions Day (April 11)
Author’s Blogs
https://prashantrandomthoughts.blogspot.com
https://prashantnepayments.blogspot.com
https://innovationinbanking.blogspot.com
