Big merchants may have to pay for UPI payments in the coming years. National Payments Corporation of India’s chief Dilip Asbe said that large merchants may have to pay charges for UPI-based payments in the next three years. He said that presently all the energies are focused on providing a viable payment alternative to cash and increasing the acceptability of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).NPCI’s chief executive and managing director was speaking at an event organised by the Bombay Chartered Accountants Society (BCAS).
Why UPI may become ‘paid’ for some
Asbe added that in the future, a lot of money will be required in getting newer innovations, more people to use the ecosystem and incentives like cashbacks, adding that another 50 crore people need to be pulled into the system.
“From the long-term perspective, a reasonable charge, not on the small merchants but the larger merchants, will come. I don’t know when it will come, whether it is one year, two years, three years down the line,” he said.
A charge on UPI has been a contentious issue, there have been murmurs from the industry to introduce such charges. Presently, the government compensates players in the ecosystem for such transactions, which helps in the broader formalisation aim.
Asbe said that there has not been the “smallest of resistance” from the broader ecosystem till now, which has helped the system grow.