UPI ID format, and where to find yours

A UPI ID looks like name@handle: something that identifies you, an @, and a handle that names the app you set UPI up in. For example 9876543210@ybl, rakesh.sharma@okhdfcbank or priya@ptyes. To find yours, open your UPI app and tap your profile photo on the home screen; the UPI ID is shown under your name, usually with a copy button.

The format, with examples

9876543210@ybl
rakesh.sharma@okhdfcbank
priya@ptyes

Before the @: often your mobile number, sometimes a name you chose or a number the app assigned. Letters and numbers, and in some apps a dot, hyphen or underscore. No spaces.

After the @: the handle, which names the app and the partner bank it connects through. @ybl means PhonePe (through Yes Bank); it doesn't mean you bank with Yes Bank. A PhonePe user with an HDFC account often has a @ybl UPI ID, and the money still lands at HDFC.

Is a mobile number a UPI ID? Not on its own. 9876543210@ybl is a UPI ID; 9876543210 alone can work as a UPI number if you've linked it, which lets people pay you by typing just your number.

Where it is in each app

Google Pay: tap your profile photo on the home screen. Your UPI IDs are listed with your bank account.

PhonePe: tap your profile photo on the home screen. Your UPI ID is shown under your name, with an option to see all of them.

Paytm: open your profile, then the UPI settings section.

BHIM: open your profile. Your UPI ID and QR are on the same screen.

Amazon Pay: in the Amazon app, open Amazon Pay, then the UPI section.

WhatsApp: open Payments (in the ⋮ menu on Android, or Settings on iPhone) and tap your bank account.

CRED: open your profile, then the UPI section.

Your bank's app: look in its UPI section, where the UPI ID is listed with the linked account.

Underneath an existing QR. If you already have a printed QR from your bank or a payment app, the UPI ID is normally printed below it. You can also read it with the QR decoder.

If you can't find it anywhere

You may not have set UPI up yet. Having a payment app installed isn't the same as having a UPI ID. If the app asks you to add a bank account, that's the step that creates it.

→How to create a UPI ID

The bank account may not be linked. Some apps show a UPI ID only after a bank account is added and a UPI PIN is set.

You might only have a wallet. A wallet balance in an app isn't a UPI ID. Look for a "UPI" or "bank account" section.

You don't need one to get paid. Your account number and IFSC can make a payment QR too.

→QR code from a bank account number

The quickest way to share it

Don't retype it. Use the copy button next to your UPI ID and paste it where it's needed. One wrong letter in a handle sends a payment nowhere, or to someone else.

If you have to read it out, spell the handle letter by letter: "Y, B, L" leaves less room for error than "ybl".

You may have several

Set up three apps with the same bank account and you have three UPI IDs. All of them receive into the same account. Put the one you actually check on anything you print.

Which one to put on your QR

The one in the app you open every day, so you see payments as they arrive.

The one linked to your business account, if you have one, so takings stay separate.

A short one, if you'll print it under the QR. 9876543210@ybl is easier to read and type than a long custom name, though it does show your number.

Can you change your UPI ID?

The handle, no. It's set by the app. For a different handle, set UPI up in a different app.

The part before the @, sometimes. Some apps let you add an extra UPI ID or choose which one is primary. Look on the same profile screen.

Old IDs on printed material. If you change the UPI ID you use, reprint your QR cards.

Check before you print it

Make the QR, scan it with your own UPI app, and read the name it shows. That name comes from your bank. If it's yours, the ID is right.

→Make your QR

→Check a UPI ID for typos