The government has announced that banks cannot impose any charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions of up to 2,000 rupees. According to a government gazette notification no charges can be imposed on such 2,000 rupees payments made through RuPay-powered debit cards either. The notification said no bank or system provider can impose any direct or indirect charge on a person making or receiving payments through these modes.
The Finance Ministry notified the changes under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act to clarify the rules around charges on UPI transactions. The notification specifically categorised RuPay-powered debit cards and UPI transactions of up to 2,000 rupees as “electronic modes of payment”. Last month, the government clarified that consumers will not be charged for making payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), while any future merchant discount rate (MDR) will be limited to select transactions above a specified threshold.
The Finance Ministry said that all person-to-person (P2P) UPI transactions will continue to remain free and there will be no blanket MDR on merchants. The government further added that such charges would be significantly lower than the MDR applicable to debit or credit card transactions. The clarification comes amid debate over a recent amendment to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, with concerns being raised about the possibility of charges being imposed on UPI users..
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