There will be no charges for bank account based UPI payments. It will remain free as before. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has issued this clarification on Wednesday. Earlier there was talk that a fee could be levied on transactions through UPI.
NPCI said that transactions done through prepaid instruments (PPIs) of the seller will attract interchange charges. A 1.1 percent fee has been imposed on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 through PPIs. It said that the interchange fee will be applicable only on PPI merchant transactions, customers will not be charged any fee.
Question- When will the charge start?
Answer- According to the NPCI circular, 1.1 percent interchange charge will be levied on merchant UPI transactions from April 1. This charge is to be levied on transactions above Rs 2000 done through Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI).
Question- Will my UPI transaction be affected?
Answer- No, you are a normal user and send money through UPI to the bank account of friends, family or any other person or merchant. So rest assured and carry on transacting like before without any charges. NPCI has also issued a statement clarifying that customers will not have to pay interchange charges on transactions through UPI. According to the statement, if you are transacting from your bank account to another’s bank account through UPI, then you will not have to pay any charges. Let us tell you that more than 99 percent of the transactions are of this type.
Question- Then who will be affected?
Answer- This charge will be levied on merchant UPI transactions through Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI). PPI stands for Paytm Wallet, PhonePe Wallet, Amazon Pay, Freecharge Wallet, Mobikwik Wallet and others.
Question- Means I will have to pay a charge on the transaction from the wallet?
Answer- No, you will not be charged for wallet transactions. This is completely a merchant and bank related matter. Merchant means the shopkeeper who has installed the scanner. Whereas, the bank is the one in which the money of the payment made by the customer to the merchant will be deposited.
Still Confused, Understand in Example
Suppose Swati did shopping for Rs.2100 from a shop. After this, he scanned the Paytm scanner kept at the shopkeeper and paid the bill. This whole process is free for Swati but it will be expensive for the shopkeeper from April 1. Actually, after the transaction from UPI QR, the money will go to the shopkeeper’s bank account and 1.1 percent interchange charge will have to be paid on this amount.
According to the circular, these changes will be effective from April 1, 2023 and will be reviewed on or before September 30, 2023.
NPCI Press Release: UPI is free, fast, secure and seamless
Every month, over 8 billion transactions are processed free for customers and merchants using bank-accounts@EconomicTimes @FinancialXpress @businessline @bsindia @livemint @moneycontrolcom @timesofindia @dilipasbe pic.twitter.com/VpsdUt5u7U— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) March 29, 2023
