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Depositing INR with UPI and Bank Transfer

Published by the Drishti team · Reviewed 2026-11-07 · Researched and edited with AI assistance.

Module 3 · Chapter 2 of 8 · ~5 min read · Tax and law facts as of November 2026

Last chapter you finished KYC, the identity check, linked a bank account in your own name and switched on 2FA, a second login check. Now the practical question: how do you add rupees to the account, and is UPI risky to use?

• ₹1 lakhtypical UPI cap
• ₹5 lakhIMPS cap
• ₹2 lakhRTGS minimum
• 24x7all four rails

2.1 Three ways rupees reach an exchange

An Indian exchange holds your rupees in an INR wallet, the rupee balance shown in the app. You can fill it by UPI, by a bank transfer over IMPS, NEFT or RTGS, or by a P2P trade, where a stranger pays you.

We skip P2P, which an earlier chapter showed can get your bank account frozen. Behind the screen, your bank sends the rupees, the exchange's partner bank receives them, and the exchange credits you.

Exchanges add and drop payment options, so check your own app.

2.2 UPI step by step

UPI is run by NPCI, the National Payments Corporation of India, and works at any hour.

• Open the app, tap Add INR and choose UPI.
• Type an amount, and start with ₹500 to test the flow.
• Approve in your UPI app, using your own bank account.
• Check the payee name before you enter your UPI PIN.
• Wait a few minutes for the INR wallet to update.

As of November 2026, NPCI caps most UPI payments at ₹1,00,000, and your bank or the exchange may set lower limits.

Is UPI risky here? It is a normal bank payment that you approve with your PIN, so the risk lies in who you pay. A UPI payment is hard to reverse, so never pay a link a stranger sent you.

2.3 IMPS, NEFT and RTGS for bigger amounts

IMPS, Immediate Payment Service, is instant. NEFT, National Electronic Funds Transfer, settles in half-hourly batches. RTGS, Real Time Gross Settlement, suits large payments.

First add the exchange's account number from the app as a payee in your bank app. Some banks delay big transfers to a new payee, so do this a day early.

In the table, transfers needed = ₹5,00,000 divided by the per-transfer cap, rounded up. Caps are typical, and your bank may set lower ones.

A daily bank cap may stretch the five UPI payments over days. The NEFT and RTGS counts assume your bank allows the full amount.

2.4 When the deposit is stuck

Money debited with no wallet credit usually has a fixable cause. The most common cause, CoinDCX says, is a missing or wrong reference number, so the exchange cannot match the payment to you.

• Find the debit in your bank statement, with its UTR, the unique transaction reference.
• Confirm you paid the account the app shows now, and typed the UTR into the app if asked.
• Confirm the money left an account in your own name.
• Allow the stated time: CoinDCX quotes 30 minutes for UPI and IMPS, 60 for NEFT and RTGS.

If all four hold, send support the UTR, amount, date and payment method, and do not pay again. If a failed UPI payment debited you, RBI rules make the bank reverse it within one to five days.

2.5 Why the sending account must be yours

Your KYC bank account is the exchange's proof of who paid. As of November 2026, exchanges such as CoinDCX and ZebPay accept deposits only from your linked account and reject the rest.

Some banks add friction: in 2021, SBI was reported to block UPI payments to crypto exchanges. The Supreme Court struck down the RBI's 2018 banking ban in March 2020, but banks still run their own checks. If a payment fails, ask your bank first.

This chapter is educational only. It is not tax, legal or investment advice. Check current rules with a chartered accountant.

Next: market order vs limit order.

Key takeaways

• Deposit only from a bank account in your own name.
• UPI is fastest for small amounts, with typical caps near ₹1,00,000 per payment.
• IMPS, NEFT and RTGS carry larger sums at any hour, within bank caps.
• A stuck deposit is usually a reference mismatch, so keep the UTR and do not pay twice.
• A deposit is not a sale, so no TDS applies at that step.

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Educational & illustrative only — not investment advice. Drishti Pro publishes AI-generated trade ideas and their public track record for information. Crypto is volatile and you can lose money. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Do your own research.