New Delhi, September 14 (IANS). The central government on Monday clarified that banks will not be able to levy any kind of fee on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions up to Rs 2,000. Similarly, no charges will be levied on payments up to Rs 2,000 made through Rupay debit cards.

According to the Gazette notification issued by the Finance Ministry, RuPay Debit Card and UPI transactions up to Rs 2,000 have been officially notified as 'Electronic Payment Medium'.

The notification states that no bank or payment system operator can charge any kind of fee directly or indirectly from the person making or receiving payment through these means.

The government has taken this decision using the powers under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. The Finance Ministry said that the move is aimed at removing confusion regarding possible charges on UPI transactions.

Last month also, the central government had clarified that person-to-person (P2P) payments made through UPI will remain completely free for common consumers. The government had said that no widely applicable merchant discount rate (MDR) would be imposed on merchants either.

According to the Finance Ministry, even if MDR is implemented in future, it will be applicable only on certain categories of merchant transactions, on payments exceeding a certain limit and at a very nominal rate.

The government also said that even in such a situation the charges would be much lower than the MDR charged on debit or credit card transactions.

This clarification comes at a time when there is talk about the possibility of charges being imposed on UPI transactions following the recent amendments made in the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. The government has clarified that no fee will be charged from customers on UPI payments up to Rs 2,000 and payments made through Rupay debit cards.

–IANS

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