The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) may ask banks not to charge for transactions made through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The proposal comes in the wake of some banks, prominently HDFC Bank and State Bank of India proposing to charge customers for making transactions through UPI. According to banking sources, NPCI will be requesting banks not to charge customers for peer-to-peer UPI transactions at this stage. NPCI may want to work out a strategy so that at least low-value, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments are not charged, the source added. NPCI’s COO Dilip Asbe said so far, no bank is charging for UPI transactions but at the same time it is at the banks’ discretion to levy a reasonable fee towards person-to-person transactions for UPI and IMPS. However, person-to-merchant transactions in UPI will remain free to customers as per NPCI guidelines, he added.
