After over 2 years of providing free UPI (Unified Payment Interface) services, banks have started to levy charges on the transactions. In a first, State Bank of India has announced to put a charge on the UPI payments originating through their accounts.
Following the move, HDFC Bank, one of the leading private sector banks in India has also decided to levy a nominal charge on P2P UPI transfers from July 10. The list of charges has been made public by the bank.
In a statement, National Payments Corporation of India’s CEO Dilip Asbe stated that no bank has charged any fee for UPI payments for the last 2 years. However, it is within bank’s right to levy a nominal charges for the transaction initiated through their accounts.
Another senior official from NPC stated that on the lines of global payment ecosystem, the customer needs to pay for these charges, however, in India, the merchants have to pay the required charges. While being asked about the reason behind keeping the UPI free for first 2 years, he stated that the platform needed to be tested for any possible irregularities and that seems to have been tested. Currently, UPI sees over 1 crore transactions per month and most of them are completed immediately.