Top financial changes from August 1, 2025: New UPI rules, RBI Repo Rate to LPG, CNG price reset, and more

Every month comes with its financial updates, affecting different aspects of an individual’s life. These financial updates are crucial for investors, as well as other Indian citizens, as they can impact their budgets and financial planning. Let’s take a look at some changes that will come into effect in August 2025. 

Changes in UPI transactions

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced several API-level limits to enhance the UPI experience for customers: 

• Inquiries: Users can now check their balance a maximum of 50 times in a day. If a user has more than one UPI app, they can check their balance 50 times on each app. UPI platforms are also told to discourage balance checks during peak hours. Further, there is a cap of 25/day on checking mobile-number-linked account details. 
• Auto-pay transactions: Auto-debit transactions, like SIPs and payments for OTT subscriptions, will only be processed during non‑peak hours. Peak hours are defined as 10 AM–1 PM and 5 PM–9:30 PM.
• Balance updates: Banks will be mandated to send balance updates with every transaction, so users don’t have to check manually every time.

In a circular in May 2025, the NPCI asked banks and PSPs (Payment Service Providers) to regulate the use of 10 significant, most-used APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) on the UPI network by July 31, 2025. 

The circular stated that all non-customer-initiated APIs (the ones that are automatically triggered by the system) must be restricted during peak hours. UPI apps were instructed to build adequate infrastructure to implement these changes.

New trading hours for market repo and Tri-Party Repo (TREP) operations

In June 2025, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an extension of trading hours for call money and repo markets. 

From August 1, the trading hours for market repo and Tri-Party Repo (TREP) operations will be extended by one hour to 4 PM. The updated timings will be 9 AM to 4 PM. 

Other timings for the government securities market, foreign exchange market, and interest rate derivatives market remain the same. 

The revision in timings for call money was already implemented from July 1, 2025, which was extended by two hours to 7 PM. The updated trading hours are now 9 PM to 7 PM. 

UPI guidelines for credit lines

As per an NPCI circular issued on July 10, 2025, users will be allowed to link pre-sanctioned credit lines (loans/overdraft) backed by FDs, shares, bonds, gold, property, personal/business loans, etc., to UPI from August 31. 

Users will be able to make P2P, P2PM, merchant payments (P2M), and even cash withdrawals via UPI with daily limits of ₹1 lakh for payments, ₹10,000 for cash withdrawals, and up to 20 P2P transfers per day.

Key financial changes in August 2025

RBI MPC meet

The next Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting is scheduled for August 4 to August 6. Many key announcements would be made during the meeting, including the change in repo rate, if any.

In the June MPC meet, the RBI announced a mega repo rate cut of 50 basis points, bringing the total repo rate cut for 2025 to 100 bps (1%). The repo rate now stands at 5.5%. The monetary policy stance was also shifted to ‘neutral’ during the June meeting.

With RBI repo rate cuts, lending and deposit rates offered by banks are also reduced, impacting Indian households significantly. A lower repo rate means banks can borrow money from the RBI at a cheaper rate, making them reduce lending and FD rates. The August MPC meeting will also be observed closely to determine the monetary policy of the country for the coming months. 

Monsoon Session of Parliament

The Monsoon Session, 2025 of the Parliament commenced on July 21, 2025, and will end on August 21, 2025. The Parliament is considering many economic and tax‑related bills to simplify tax structures and promote ease of doing business. The outcome of the Monsoon Session will be announced near the end of August, which makes it an important period for businesses, taxpayers, and investors to monitor the expected policy and legislative changes that could impact their financial activity. 

LPG, CNG, PNG, and ATF rates

Every month, LPG cylinder rates, along with CNG, PNG, and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices, are reviewed and revised if necessary. There could be changes in these in August as well, making them important for consumers, especially because LPG cylinder and CNG prices can impact the budgets of Indian households. 

Consumers must track these changes and take necessary steps to plan their budget and make well-informed decisions.