In 2025 India, living in a metro city without a UPI app is almost unimaginable. At almost every step of the day, you are required to take out your phone and make a payment. Whether you are buying a metro ticket, paying a cab driver, ordering food, buying fruits, enjoying a tea break with your colleagues, paying at a salon, refilling your fuel tank, splitting the bill after dinner, or even making a donation at a temple, everything happens through a scan-and-pay moment.

UPI apps have made life and daily expenses extremely convenient. One no longer has to worry about keeping change, handling cash, or even carrying a wallet. Just a quick tap, and the payment is done. However, many young urban Indians are now taking a break from UPI apps and going cash-only to curb unnecessary spending and save money.

In the West too, young people are embracing cash-only weekends to curb expenses. The idea is to withdraw money from the ATM on Friday and make it stretch through Sunday.

Can you imagine going cash-only to save money? It is not easy to do so in today’s UPI-dependent time.

Ekta Jain*, a 38-year-old Gurugram resident, mostly stayed away from UPI apps and had only an on-and-off relationship with them. When she switched to UPI for everyday expenses, it was an eye-opener.

For her, it began with the convenience of paying for the evening chai at her office canteen because the vendor never had enough change for the notes she offered. Eventually, it turned into making impulse purchases, giving in to every food craving, and buying things she did not really need, all because payment was just a tap away.

“When I use cash, I keep only a limited amount in my wallet and reserve my debit card for bigger or truly urgent purchases. Instead of ordering pasta, I wait to get home and relish dinner. Instead of impulsively buying a bag on sale at the mall, as if I’ll never find it again and my life depends on it, I sit with the thought for a while, weigh my options, consider whether I really need it, and assess its practicality and utility before making a decision. But with a UPI app, before I can even entertain those thoughts, the payment is already done,” she says.

The real issue lies in the lack of control, but that is how the psychology of convenient digital payments works. Financial experts agree that UPI apps lead to more reckless spending compared to cash.

Cash vs UPI

“Ease of use and the instant nature of digital payments reduce the psychological pain of spending that physical cash provides, leading to more frequent unplanned purchases,” says Abhishek Kumar, a Sebi-registered investment advisor and founder of Sahaj Money.

“Using physical cash creates friction while spending, as one has to physically count it and hand over money, making purchases feel more real and encouraging deliberation before impulsive buys,” he adds.

“Going cash-only is by far the best method to save money,” says Garvit Goyal, an NISM-certified finance content creator.

When you spend cash, your brain feels it. You see the notes leave your hand, your wallet gets thinner, and that physical friction makes you realise you are really spending money. You think twice before handing out Rs 500 for something you do not truly need. Plus, you cannot overspend what you physically have.

UPI payments, on the contrary, create a dopamine spending loop.

“With online payments, we barely even register that money has been spent. The action is instant, the dopamine hit is immediate, and the mental load is almost zero. This ease has especially fuelled spending among the younger generation, since transactions feel smaller, Rs 199 for an OTT subscription, Rs 279 for a coffee, harmless individually but collectively adding up to a month’s salary,” Goyal says.

“Over time, our sense of normal shifts upward. A Rs 300 meal feels cheap, Rs 800 clothes seem casual, and Rs 1,000 subscriptions start to feel essential, all while our bank accounts quietly bleed red. It has created what you could call a dopamine spending loop, ordering food, buying subscriptions, paying for cabs, all in seconds, all for that quick hit of convenience and pleasure,” he adds.

29-year-old Divik Singh* deletes UPI apps from his phone whenever he feels he has overspent and needs to rein in his expenses before the next salary arrives.

“I stay mostly off UPI during the last 10 days of the month. Without access to digital payments, I am a completely different person. It helps me control unnecessary spending. Life does get a bit boring, though – I no longer mindlessly say yes to impromptu plans, and I think twice before spending the limited cash I’ve withdrawn from the ATM,” he tells India Today Digital.

Going cash-only in metro cities is not easy. UPI app dependency is so high that every time you try to pay with cash for a daily expense, you are often met with, “I do not have change.”

Visit a pharmacy and hand over cash, and they will politely ask if you could pay via a UPI app instead. The same is also true at metro stations, local market shops, and street vendors.

Nevertheless, here are a few expert-approved tips to help curb impulsive spending if going completely ‘cash-only’ isn’t an option (and let’s not forget that those now-essential banking apps come with their own scan-and-pay temptations):

  • 24-hour rule: Wait 24 hours before buying anything above Rs 500, or set a personal limit. Most ‘wants’ die out.
  • Turn off easy payments: Disable saved cards, one-click payouts, and autopay systems.
  • Monthly subscriptions: Paying monthly makes you feel the cost and helps decide if it is worth it.
  • Remember Warren Buffett: “If you buy things you do not need, soon you will have to sell things you need.”
  • Reframe money as time: Think in hours worked. For example, a Rs 2,000 shirt equals one day of work.
  • Create friction: Remove shopping apps from your home screen, unsubscribe from promotional emails, and disconnect payment methods from social media.

– Ends

Published By:

Medha Chawla

Published On:

Oct 22, 2025