The next best thing after sliced bread. Unstoppable force. World's envy, India's pride. The Unified Payment Interface (UPI)—India's homegrown payment system—has earned itself high praise. And why not? It's easy as cake, offers multiple payment flows to users, and is interoperable across platforms. And the cherry on the cake?
It's free. (Or so it is thought). Little wonder the UPI—just six years old—has grown leaps and bounds. The instant, real-time system now sees six billion monthly transactions and powers two-thirds of India's online merchant payments. But, the old jungle saying: there's no such thing as a free lunch. So, someone's been paying for the 'free' UPI ride. Turns out it's the likes of Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm. These third-party payment platforms, service provider banks, and payment operator NPCI incur about 0.25% of the transacted amount. The bill? Rs 4,000 crore (~$500 million) or thereabouts in the year ended March 2022. Ouch.
The bill-footers don't like this. So, last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) took baby steps toward introducing charges on UPI transactions on customers and merchants. Only to be handed a quick rebuff by the government. Our contributor of today's story, writes, users have already been paying 'platform fees' for nearly a year. From a few rupees to 1-2 percentage points on select transactions.
Wait.
What? How?
Have platforms taken matters into their own hands?
Is this justified? Is it even legal?
