UPI Circle: Let a Family Member Pay From Your Account Safely

Your elderly mother wants to pay the vegetable seller and the chemist on her own, but she is new to UPI and you do not want to hand your UPI PIN to anybody. UPI Circle is built for exactly this. It is a National Payments Corporation of India feature that lets you, the primary user, allow a trusted person, the secondary user, to pay from your bank account up to a limit you set, using their own phone and their own app, without ever seeing or knowing your PIN. You stay in charge, and you can pull the access back at any time. NPCI introduced UPI Circle through a circular dated 13 August 2024 (NPCI, UPI Circle).

Think of it as a controlled spending window on your own account, not a joint account and not a shared password. The money still leaves your balance, but the other person taps pay on their side, and you decide how much and for how long.

UPI Circle has two modes, and choosing the right one is the most important decision you will make.

In full delegation the secondary user is trusted to spend on their own inside the cap. In partial delegation, the secondary can only start a payment. It then lands on your phone as a request, and it goes through only after you approve it with your UPI PIN. Both modes are described by NPCI and by supporting banks and apps (Razorpay explainer).

A few fixed rules apply either way. One primary user can add up to 5 secondary users. A secondary user can be linked to only one primary at a time, so a person cannot draw money from two different accounts through Circle.

The feature works inside supporting UPI apps. BHIM was the first to go fully live with UPI Circle full delegation, on 25 November 2025 (NPCI BHIM press release). The wording of each screen may differ by app, but the flow is the same.

Keep this ready before you start:

• The secondary person's UPI ID, their QR code, or their mobile number.
• Their phone with a UPI app installed and set up.
• Your own UPI PIN, to authorise the setup.

Then follow these steps:

1. Open your UPI app and go to the UPI Circle or Family and Friends section, usually under your profile.
2. Tap Invite to Circle or Add Family or Friends.
3. Enter the person's UPI ID, scan their QR code, or pick their mobile number.
4. Choose the mode. Pick full delegation to set a monthly limit, or partial delegation to approve each payment yourself.
5. If asked, select your relationship and verify identity, for example with Aadhaar, as some apps require this for full delegation.
6. Set the spending limit and the validity period, then pick the bank account and confirm with your UPI PIN.
7. The secondary user opens their own app, accepts your request, and can start paying after a short cooling-off period.

That is it. From now on, when the secondary user pays a shop, the money moves from your account, but they never touch your PIN or your phone.

Money control is the whole point of UPI Circle, so it helps to know the guardrails.

• Monthly cap. In full delegation you can set a monthly limit up to ₹15,000 per secondary user, and up to ₹5,000 per single payment. You can set it lower. On BHIM the limit can run for a validity period from one month up to five years (NPCI BHIM press release).
• Partial delegation limit. Here your usual bank UPI limits apply, because you personally approve every payment.
• Cool-off. Right after you add someone, a short cooling-off window applies before they can spend freely, and newly linked users face a lower per-payment limit in the first 24 hours. This is a safety brake against a rushed or fraudulent setup.
• Full visibility. You can see every payment the secondary user makes, and each one shows up in your bank statement, so nothing is hidden from you.

To remove a person, open your UPI Circle settings, select the member, and confirm removal. Their access ends instantly. Do this the moment a phone is lost, a relationship changes, or you simply no longer need the arrangement. Because the whole thing lives on your account, you never have to chase anyone to give back a password.

If a delegated payment ever goes to the wrong place or you suspect misuse, act fast, the same way you would for any UPI problem. See our guide on how to recover money after UPI fraud.

Bottom line, UPI Circle is safer than the two things people usually do instead, sharing their UPI PIN or handing over their unlocked phone. The secondary user acts from their own app and authorises with their own biometric or app lock, so your PIN never leaves your head. You set the cap, you watch every spend, and you can cut access in seconds.

But safe does not mean hands-off. It is still your bank account and your money. Every rupee a secondary user spends leaves your balance, and you set the limits that allow it, so you carry the responsibility for those spends. That is why NPCI frames Circle around trusted people, a parent, a spouse, a child, or long-serving domestic help, not casual acquaintances. Add only people you would trust with cash, keep the cap tight, and review your statement each month.

UPI Circle is different from other UPI tools you may have seen. It is not a recurring auto-debit, which you can learn to spot in our page on UPI mandate fraud. It is also separate from adding a RuPay credit card on UPI, and from the higher UPI limits for certain merchant payments. For a plain-language walkthrough of your wider information and consumer rights, keep The RTI Playbook handy.

No. The secondary user never sees your UPI PIN and does not get access to your full account. They can only start payments within the mode and cap you set. You keep the PIN, the balance view, and the power to remove them at any time.

You can add up to 5 secondary users to your circle. A secondary user can be linked to only one primary at a time, so the same person cannot pull money from two different accounts through UPI Circle (Razorpay explainer).

In full delegation the secondary pays on their own up to a monthly cap, with no message to you for each payment. In partial delegation, every payment they start waits for you to approve it with your UPI PIN. Full is for trusted daily spends, partial is for tighter control.

Open your UPI Circle settings, select the member, and confirm removal. Access ends at once. Do this the moment a phone is lost or you no longer want the arrangement, and the payment window closes right away.

UPI Circle is an NPCI feature available across supporting UPI apps. BHIM went live with full delegation on 25 November 2025. Other UPI apps have been rolling it out, so check the UPI Circle or Family and Friends section inside your own app.