Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) has issued an important advisory for its millions of account holders, announcing a brief suspension of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) services in the early hours of September 4, 2026. The temporary interruption is due to scheduled system maintenance aimed at upgrading the bank’s digital infrastructure.
According to the official communication from the country’s largest public sector lender, UPI transactions linked to SBI accounts will be broadly unavailable for approximately 45 minutes, starting from 12:15 AM to 1:00 AM (IST) on Wednesday.
Taking to the social media platform X to inform users, the bank stated, “Due to scheduled maintenance activities, SBI UPI services will be temporarily unavailable on 04.09.2026 from 12:15 AM to 1:00 AM (IST). However, this work may be completed earlier. Customers can continue using UPI Lite services for uninterrupted transactions. We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers.”
To avoid transaction failures, SBI has urged users who plan to make critical financial transfers around midnight to complete them prior to the 12:15 AM downtime. As a seamless alternative during the maintenance window, the bank has strongly recommended the use of ‘UPI Lite’ for small-value transactions. Customers are advised to add funds to their UPI Lite wallets ahead of the scheduled outage.
Additionally, standard alternative payment methods, including debit cards and net banking, will remain fully functional and unaffected during this 45-minute period. Once the technical upgrades conclude at 1:00 AM, standard UPI operations will resume normally.
Presently, SBI permits standard UPI transactions up to ₹1 lakh per day, with a maximum cap of 20 person-to-person (P2P) transfers daily. The bank provides enhanced limits for specific verified merchant categories—allowing up to ₹2 lakh for insurance and capital market payments, and up to ₹5 lakh for IPO subscriptions, tax payments, hospitals, and educational institutions.
For users seeking quicker checkout experiences, UPI Lite allows pin-less transactions up to ₹1,000, with a maximum permissible wallet balance of ₹5,000.