New Delhi, September 14 (Daily Kiran) : The Central Government has announced that banks will not impose any fees on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions up to ₹2,000. This also applies to payments made via RuPay debit cards for the same amount.
According to a notification released by the Finance Ministry, RuPay debit cards and UPI transactions below ₹2,000 have been officially designated as “electronic payment methods.”
The notification specifies that no bank or payment system operator may charge any direct or indirect fees to individuals making or receiving payments through these methods.
This decision was made under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act of 2007. The Finance Ministry stated that the aim of this move is to eliminate confusion regarding potential fees associated with UPI transactions.
Last month, the government had already clarified that person-to-person (P2P) payments made via UPI would remain entirely free for regular consumers. Additionally, it stated that there would be no broadly applicable Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) imposed on merchants.
The Finance Ministry noted that if MDR is introduced in the future, it will only apply to select categories of merchant transactions involving amounts exceeding a specified limit, and at a very minimal rate.
The government assured that, even in such cases, the fees would be significantly lower than the MDR typically applied to debit or credit card transactions.
This clarification comes amidst discussions about the potential imposition of fees on UPI transactions following recent amendments to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act. The government has reiterated that no fees will be charged to customers for UPI payments and payments made through RuPay debit cards up to ₹2,000.
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