UPI Payment Charges: Amid confusion over interchange fees and wallet interoperability on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network from April 1, 2023, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has came out with a clarification. In a statement on Wednesday, the NPCI said, “UPI is free, fast, secure and seamless”.
Suggesting that the most preferred method of UPI transactions is linking the Bank account in any UPI enabled app for making payments, the NPCI shared that bank account-to-account transactions will continue to remain free for customers and merchants.
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“Recent regulatory guidelines, the Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPl Wallets) have been permitted to be part of interoperable UPI ecosystem. In view of this NPCI has now permitted the PPI wallets to be part of interoperable UPI ecosystem,” the body that operates retail payments and settlement systems in India said.
Giving a major relief to the UPI users, the umbrella organistion informed that the interchange charges introduced are only applicable for the PPI merchant transactions and “there is no charge to customers”. It further clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments (i.e. normal UP payments).
NPCI MD and CEO Dilip Asbe noted that UPI continues to be free for Customers and Merchants for making payments from any bank account.
Additionally, the customers will have the choice of using any bank accounts, RuPay Credit card and prepaid wallets on UPI enabled apps.
The same was also clarified by digital payments company Paytm earlier today. Informing its users, Paytm Payments Bank tweeted, “NPCI circular on interchange fees & wallet interoperability, no customer will pay any charges on making payments from #UPI either from bank account or PPI/Paytm Wallet. Please do not spread misinformation. #Mobile payments will continue to drive our economy forward!”
Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma said, “UPI payments from Bank account or Wallets are totally free! #UPIcharges are NIL for consumers. Do not fall for malicious rumours.”
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UPI Transactions in India
Earlier this month, Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das had shared that payments through UPI have grown exponentially in the past 12 months with daily transactions crossing 36 crore, from 24 crore in February 2022. In value terms, these transactions are worth Rs 6.27 lakh crore, registering a growth of 17 per cent from Rs 5.36 lakh crore in February 2022.
