SBI customers have been facing issues with UPI payments failing today on 6th August 2023. UPI or Unified Payments Interface has emerged as one of the most popular digital payment modes in India thanks to its convenience and real-time transfer capabilities. However, sometimes technical problems can crop up leading to transaction failures. In this blog, we will know the key reasons why SBI’s UPI platform is not working smoothly today and what can be done about it.
Scheduled Maintenance Shutdown
The primary and most likely reason for SBI UPI issues today is scheduled maintenance work being carried out by the bank. SBI had put out a notice earlier that its UPI services along with YONO, internet banking will be unavailable between 00:40 hrs and 02:10 hrs on 6th August 2023.
This maintenance shutdown was planned to deploy technology upgrades. All digital services are expected to be restored after the maintenance window ends. So if you tried making UPI payments during the downtime period, they would have predictably failed.
— State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) August 5, 2023
Other Possible Reasons For Not Working SBI UPI?
Heavy Traffic Causing Server Overload
With UPI gaining immense popularity, the transaction volumes handled by SBI’s servers have increased multifold. The bank claims to have scaled up capacity to support increased loads. However, on busy days like month-ends or festival sales, the traffic spike can still sometimes overload systems.
If simultaneous transactions shoot up drastically beyond anticipated levels, it can cripple servers. This seems to have happened today causing UPI payment failures despite SBI’s upgrades. The core banking system needs further bolstering to handle peak traffic without outages.
Integration Issues with NPCI
While SBI handles the front-end of UPI services, at the back-end the switch and connectivity with NPCI’s infrastructure plays a key role. Any bugs or glitches at NPCI’s end can affect seamless UPI transactions across participant banks like SBI.
Some experts feel SBI’s UPI troubles may be a result of integration issues with NPCI rather than its own systems. Even if SBI’s servers and apps are running fine, problems with NPCI’s core channels can lead to failed transactions.
Problems Afflicting Third-Party UPI Apps
Apart from SBI’s own YONO and BHIM SBI Pay apps, many customers access UPI via third-party apps like Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm etc. So if any of these apps face technical failures or bugs, it impacts linked bank UPI services.
For instance, if Google Pay is unable to access NPCI servers, SBI customers using Google Pay will face transaction issues even if SBI’s system is online. The root cause lies with the third-party app in such cases.
SBI Servers Faced Localized Outages
As per some users, SBI’s UPI issues today may have been caused by localized outages in parts of their backend infrastructure. For instance, the server enabling UPI transaction processing might have crashed or connectivity might have dropped in a specific geography.
This could have resulted in patchy failures where SBI customers in some regions faced problems while those in unaffected areas did not. Partial outages are harder to detect and resolve than a complete breakdown.
Hope all the services will be fixed soon.
Software Glitches
Experts feel the brief failure of SBI UPI today could have been a result of a software glitch, bug or malware threat that managed to bypass the bank’s cybersecurity systems. Small vulnerabilities or gaps in patches can be exploited to hamper services.
If any rogue program managed to infect and take down a crucial transaction processing component, it can cause widespread impact. Banks have to constantly review defenses and conduct audits to plug any gaps that can lead to technical issues.
Issues at Customers’ End Hampering UPI
While the bank may sometimes be at fault, customers too need to ensure proper UPI access and functioning at their end. Factors like low phone storage, outdated app versions, incorrect UPI PINs, disabled notifications etc. can also lead to failed transactions.
Ensuring your mobile OS and SBI UPI apps are updated, giving required permissions, and having sufficient storage are key. Also check account balance, mobile registration and two-factor authentication being enabled before transactions.
Core Banking System Due for Major Upgrade
SBI still relies on a legacy core banking system that powers its digital services including UPI. Experts say it has limited capacity to effectively handle massive traffic spikes, outages and new threats emerging in a digital payments world.
Frequent small upgradation patches are unable to address the inherent constraints of an old system. SBI needs to invest in overhauling its core technology stack to prevent frequent outages and ensure smooth UPI services.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Why is SBI UPI not working today?
The most likely reason is scheduled maintenance being carried out by SBI during the early hours today from 00:40 hrs to 02:10 hrs. All UPI and online banking services are expected to resume normally after the maintenance shutdown ends.
2. How long will the SBI UPI service be down today?
As per SBI’s notice, UPI and other digital banking services will be unavailable for 1 hour 30 minutes between 00:40 hrs and 02:10 hrs today on 6th August 2023 due to maintenance work. Services should resume after 02:10 hrs.
3. What services of SBI are affected due to the maintenance?
SBI’s notice indicates that internet banking (INB), UPI, YONO, YONO Lite, and YONO Business services will be unavailable during the maintenance period today. So transactions involving any of these may fail.
4. I’m trying to make an urgent UPI payment but it is failing. What should I do?
Since UPI services are down temporarily for maintenance, your transaction is bound to fail right now. Try again after a few hours once SBI’s maintenance work is completed and services are restored. Schedule non-urgent payments after 02:10 hrs today.
5. How frequently does SBI conduct maintenance on its digital banking services?
While small patches and upgrades happen routinely, larger scheduled maintenance that can cause disruptions is not very frequent – perhaps once a quarter or less. But it is needed to improve services.
6. Will my pending UPI transactions be automatically completed after the maintenance period?
No, any transactions initiated during the maintenance window will fail. You have to re-initiate and confirm the payments again once UPI services are restored after scheduled maintenance is over.
