A new feature reportedly in the works could let you pay someone using NFC instead of a data connection – even mid-flight or deep inside a tunnel where signal doesn’t reach.

According to a recent report, the National Payments Corporation of India is working on a UPI feature that would let people pay another device or a merchant’s PoS terminal without any internet connectivity at all.

How it’s expected to work

Business Standard reported that this would run on near-field communication (NFC), the same short-range wireless tech used in contactless cards, which tends to be quicker and more secure than Bluetooth over short distances. Transactions through this method would reportedly be limited to Rs 2,000.

The way it’s expected to function: users would first top up an on-device wallet called UPI Lite while they still have internet access. Once that balance is loaded, they’d be able to spend it at offline terminals or in no-network zones – and interestingly, without even needing to punch in a UPI PIN each time.

For any of this to actually roll out, NPCI will reportedly need to certify PoS terminal makers so their devices can support offline UPI transactions, something expected to happen sometime this year.

This isn’t the first attempt at offline payments

Truth is, offline UPI isn’t a brand-new concept – it’s just been fairly limited so far. Options like *99# and UPI 123Pay have let people send money without a live internet connection for a while now, relying instead on a USSD code or a basic phone call.

The catch with those older methods, though, is that they still depend on some kind of network – either a GSM signal for the USSD route or an active phone line for the call-based one. What makes this new NFC approach different is that it might not need a network at all. If your phone supports NFC, the payment could go through on short-range wireless alone.

*99# has an advantage in that it works on basically any GSM phone, smartphone or not, which makes it usable even for people without a smartphone. It runs over USSD – a signalling channel that doesn’t require mobile data – and covers 13 languages, including Hindi and English, across 83 participating banks. Transactions here cap out at Rs 5,000. To use it, you dial *99#, pick your bank, select “Send Money,” enter the recipient’s UPI ID or number, type in the amount, and confirm using your UPI PIN.

UPI 123Pay takes a similar idea but leans on voice guidance, aimed at feature phone users. You call a set number, choose from 12 language options, and follow the spoken prompts to fill in the recipient’s details and amount, before wrapping up with your PIN. Merchant payments here also cap at Rs 5,000, with a daily ceiling of Rs 1,00,000.

Both of these services run 24/7, holidays included, and have quietly played a big role in extending digital payments to people in low-connectivity areas or without smartphones. This upcoming NFC feature seems to build on that same philosophy – just pushing it further by cutting the network dependency out of the equation entirely, at least at the moment of payment.