BUSINESS
Good news for RuPay and UPI users! Payments up to ₹2,000 are free, with charges after that; a major government decision
The central government has made a significant decision for customers making digital payments. UPI transactions up to ₹2,000 will now be chargeless. Furthermore, charges have been waived for payments made using RuPay debit cards.
This will provide significant relief to customers using UPI and RuPay. The Union Finance Ministry issued a notification on Monday under Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. According to this rule, no bank or payment system will be able to charge any fee, directly or indirectly, from any person making or accepting a transaction.
With this new rule, UPI transactions up to ₹2,000 will be completely free. Furthermore, there will be no extra charges for payments made using RuPay debit cards.
However, there's still a possibility of future charges for UPI transactions over ₹2,000. Currently, the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) hasn't been implemented. In August, the government announced the possibility of a limited MDR on large merchant UPI transactions. This fee is likely to be levied on the merchant rather than the customer, with the goal of keeping "person-to-person" transactions free.
Meanwhile, the number of UPI transactions in India continues to grow. In August, there were 24.51 billion transactions on UPI, with a total value of ₹29.82 lakh crore. Two platforms, Google Pay and PhonePe, account for the majority of transactions. According to the government, these changes are aimed at making the country's digital payment system more efficient and financially sustainable.
PC: JAGRAN
