No charge on UPI payments, it is 'FREE': NPCI

Do you make UPI transactions and are worried if you will have to pay charges for the same? There were several reports claiming that charges will be levied on UPI payments. However, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has now clarified that there will be no charges for the bank account to bank account-based UPI payments that are normal UPI payments. It further stated that the recently introduced interchange charges are only applicable for the prepaid payment instruments (PPI) transactions and there is no charge to customers.

NCPI says UPI transactions will remain free of charge

"UPI is free, fast, secure and seamless... Every month, over 8 billion transactions are processed free for customers and merchants using bank-accounts," NPCI tweeted. While in a release, it stated, "Traditionally, the most preferred method of UPI transactions is linking the Bank account in any UPI enabled app for making payments which contributes over 99.9% of total UPI transactions. These Bank account-to-account transactions continue to remain free for Customers and Merchants."

"Recent regulatory guidelines, the Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI Wallets) have been permitted to be part of the interoperable UPI ecosystem. In view of this NPCI has now permitted the PPI wallets to be part of the interoperable UPI ecosystem. The interchange charges introduced are only applicable for the PPI merchant transactions and there is no charge to customers, and it is further clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments (i.e. normal UPI payments)," NPCI added.

With this addition to UPI, customers will have the choice of using any bank accounts, RuPay Credit card and prepaid wallet on UPI enabled apps.

Notably, in a recent circular, the NPCI reportedly said that using prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) - gift cards, wallets, among others -- for transactions through UPI will attract an interchange fee of up to 1.1 percent starting April 1. The charges will be levied if the transaction is more than Rs. 2000, a report by ANI informed.

Some of the major UPI apps being used by a majority of people are GooglePay, PhonePe, Paytm, and more.