The QR itself has no limit
A QR code is a payment address, not an account. It does not carry a limit and it does not expire. Every limit you meet comes from somewhere else: the UPI network, your bank, or your payment app.
This matters when troubleshooting. If a payment is refused, the QR is almost never the problem, and printing a new one will not help.
The three layers
- The UPI network sets an overall ceiling per transaction, which for ordinary person to person payments has long sat at ₹1,00,000. Certain categories, such as payments to hospitals, educational institutions, capital markets, and some government and insurance payments, are allowed higher ceilings.
- Your bank applies its own per transaction and daily limits, which are frequently lower than the network ceiling and vary between banks and account types.
- Your app may apply a lower limit again, and usually caps the number of transactions per day, commonly around ten to twenty.
The one that applies is always the lowest of the three. Both people in a payment have their own limits too, so a payment can be refused because of the recipient's bank rather than yours.
These figures are revised by the NPCI and by individual banks from time to time. Treat any number you read anywhere, including here, as a starting point and confirm the current limit in your own app or with your bank.
New accounts are restricted
A newly created UPI account is usually limited to a much smaller amount, often around ₹5,000, for the first day. This is a fraud control and it lifts on its own. It surprises people setting up UPI specifically to make one large payment.
When a payment is refused
- Split it. Two payments below the limit almost always work, unless you have hit a daily count cap.
- Try tomorrow. Daily limits reset, though not always at midnight.
- Try a different app or bank account. Limits are per account and per app, so another one may go through.
- Ask your bank to raise the limit. Many banks will, on request, for an established account.
- Use a different rail for genuinely large amounts. IMPS, NEFT, and RTGS exist for this and have much higher ceilings.
What this means for a merchant
If you take large payments, expect some customers to hit their limit rather than yours. Keeping an alternative available, whether a bank transfer or a card machine, avoids losing a sale to a cap neither of you controls.
For a fixed amount QR, remember the amount is baked into the code. If it sits above a common limit, some customers simply cannot pay it. An open amount QR lets them split the payment themselves.
Charges
Ordinary UPI payments between individuals, and to most small merchants, carry no charge to either side. Interchange applies to some prepaid wallet payments above a threshold at merchants, and does not fall on the customer. If anyone asks you to pay a fee to receive money over UPI, that is not how UPI works.