Accessibility Challenges in UPI-Based Mobile Payment Applications

Abstract

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) of India handles more than 4.61 billion transactions every month, but its accessibility among users with disabilities, senior citizens and low-literacy users is critically under-investigated. The study in this paper is based on a primary survey of 32 UPI users and a synthesis of four major reference studies. Findings indicate that although 90.6% of the respondents know about the features of accessibility, the proportion of those with a strong belief that UPI apps are built inclusively is only 21.9%. Almost half of them have found themselves confused by having no clear labeling of buttons. Basing on the principles of WCAG 2.0, TAM/UTAUT frameworks, and usability testing of Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm, we outline the fundamental issues in the design and suggest ten evidence-based solutions to inclusive UPI design.

Introduction

This study examines the accessibility challenges of India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem and highlights how millions of users—especially people with disabilities, elderly individuals, and first-time smartphone users—face barriers in using digital payment applications. Although UPI processes billions of transactions monthly and has transformed digital payments in India, accessibility remains inconsistent across third-party UPI apps.

The research combines a survey of 32 UPI users in the Ghaziabad-NCR region with findings from previous studies to evaluate usability and accessibility. Results show that while most users are aware of accessibility features, many are uncertain whether UPI apps are truly inclusive. Nearly half of respondents reported confusion caused by unclear buttons or labels, indicating usability issues even for sighted users.

Major accessibility problems identified include unlabeled interface elements that fail with screen readers, complex navigation structures, unclear error messages, lack of audio or haptic feedback, and poor support for low-connectivity environments. Comparative analysis of popular UPI apps found significant differences in accessibility compliance, with Google Pay performing better than Paytm and PhonePe, though none achieved full accessibility standards.

The study recommends adopting WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance across all UPI applications, improving screen-reader compatibility, simplifying navigation, providing descriptive labels and error messages, adding multimodal feedback (audio, vibration, voice alerts), ensuring sufficient color contrast, supporting biometric authentication, and developing lightweight offline-capable versions. The authors conclude that accessibility is essential for true financial inclusion and that improving accessibility benefits all users, not only those with disabilities.

Conclusion

The gap between the scale achievement and accessibility reality of UPI is a constant and quantifiable gap as mapped in this paper. Our primary survey of 32 users and synthesis of four major studies reveal: 46.9% of general users report confusion with buttons and labels; 25% do not know whether UPI apps are built to be inclusive; and only 56.5% of the interface components of PhonePe could be perceived by non-visual means [11]. This is not good with an app that is being used to process crores of transactions in a country that houses one third the number of the visually impaired in the world. Our top ten tips, covering ARIA labelling, simplifying navigation, biometric authentication, multi-modal feedback, and regulatory requirements, will provide a roadmap based on actual usability data and the literature. Three commitments are required to achieve progress: NPCI making accessibility compliance a hard certification criterion; TPAP organisations implementing true user-centred design processes; and accessibility research becoming the norm in mobile payment adoption research instead of the ongoing gap it currently signifies [10][12]. The technology was already in existence. What is required is the will - organisational, regulatory and cultural. India developed UPI to the entire India. It has to be made to look like that as well.

References

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Copyright

Copyright © 2026 Arohi Sharma, Dr. Rashmi Shekhar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.