Matai added that bankers should upgrade their servers and all service providers need to address the issue. The IBA couldn’t be reached for a comment.

These complaints come in the aftermath of a big digital push from the government as customers and merchants are being incentivised to carry out transactions through non-cash mediums amidst the shortage of currency in the economy.

While the banks have fast-tracked the process of acquiring and deploying ten lakh card payment machines in the next three months, dependence on two international giants has led to roadblocks in quick deployment and upgrade of the existing infrastructure.

Even as payment processing companies remain confident that new machines will be deployed in time, doubts persist about the strength of the existing payment infrastructure, which is seeing unprecedented volumes.

Deepak Chandani, Chief Executive Officer in charge of South Asia and the Middle East at Worldline, which manages one-third of India’s 15 lakh PoS terminals, said that observed failure rates are not unusual but accepted that there could be some “delay and slowness” in the network due to added traffic.