MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank on Wednesday increased the UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000 and per-transaction limit to Rs 1,000 in order to encourage wider adoption of the popular instant payment system through mobile phones.

UPI Lite transactions are offline to the extent that Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) is not required, and transaction alerts are not sent in real time.

Currently, the upper limit of an offline payment transaction is Rs 500 and the total limit for offline transactions on a payment instrument is Rs 2,000 at any point in time.

The Reserve Bank on Wednesday amended the 'offline framework' issued in January 2022 with an aim at facilitating small value digital payments in offline mode.

"...the enhanced limits for UPI Lite shall be Rs 1,000 per transaction, with Rs 5,000 being the total limit at any point in time," said a Reserve Bank circular.

An announcement in this regard was made by the central bank in October this year.

An offline payment means a transaction which does not require internet or telecom connectivity to take effect.