01/04/2023
There has been a lot of confusion around the charges that will be levied on payments. 🧐
Let us clear the air.
Let's consider these 3 scenarios:
Scenario 1: Me to my friend (P2P)
UPI payment of any amount through bank account / PPI wallet*: No charges for me and my friend
Scenario 2: Me to merchant / shop keeper (P2M)
UPI payment of any amount through bank account: No charge to me and shopkeeper
Scenario 3: Me to merchant / shop keeper (P2M)
UPI payment above INR 2,000 through PPI wallet: No charge to me but up-to 1.1% charge to the merchant / shopkeeper.
➡️ Summarising the same:
NPCI has clarified that customers do NOT have to pay any charge in any case.
It is the merchant who will be levied a charge up-to 1.1% of transaction value (on transactions over INR 2,000, for using the infrastructure of the wallet issuing company) (Ex: Paytm, Phonepe)
It is important to note that charge will be levied to merchant only on interoperable** PPI wallet transactions and not on bank-to-bank transactions via UPI
Basically, the ecosystem needs revenue to be running and it is very similar to the credit card ecosystem, where the merchant is levied a charge (~2%) on a payment using a credit card and the participants in the transaction viz. the paying and the receiving banks and the credit card issuing company gets revenue for providing their services.
* Examples of PPI (Prepaid Payment Instruments) can be gift cards, online wallets etc.
** Interoperable PPI wallet means wallet where users can seamlessly transfer funds from one wallet to another (of another issuer) and from their wallets to bank accounts through the UPI platform.
Let me know your views in the comments!