Fake News Alert! NPCI warns people against additional charges on UPI transactions from January 1

KEY STORY

•  It is the start of a new year and a new decade as well. Several new rules are coming into effect from today and a lot of things are changing.

• Amid all this, there have been reports of additional charges on UPI transactions from today (January 1) onwards. However, for all those who do UPI transactions or payment, there is a huge relief as NPCI has denied any such claim.

• With many customers worried, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has sent a message to all concerned.

• NPCI said that the news about UPI transactions being charged from January 1, 2021, is incorrect and has requested everyone not to fall prey to such incorrect information. There will be no UPI transaction charges added for users.

   

• The message added, “NPCI has urged all the customers to not believe in such stories and continue to perform uninterrupted and convenient UPI transactions.” NPCI also tweeted, “NPCI would like to clarify that the news about UPI transactions being charged from 1st Jan, 21 is completely #fake. Our press release dated Nov 5, 2020, has no correlation with pricing or charges whatsoever.”

NPCI would like to clarify that the news about UPI transactions being charged from 1st Jan, 21 is completely #fake. Our press release dated Nov 5 2020, has no correlation with pricing or charges whatsoever.https://t.co/uiVVG0axAL pic.twitter.com/uSRMUZZLL4

— India Be Safe. India Pay Digital. (@NPCI_NPCI) December 8, 2020

• Note that earlier, it was reported that those who make UPI payment might be required to pay additional charges on transactions from Amazon Pay, Google Pay and Phone Pe.

• Reports also claimed that NPCI decided to impose an additional charge on UPI Payment Service (UPI Payment) run by third-party app providers from January 1 and that NPCI has imposed a 30 percent cap on third-party apps starting the New year – January 1, 2021. However, none of these reports are correct. There is no charge being imposed on UPI payments by subscribers.

• It is worth adding that in November, NPCI said that with UPI reaching 2 billion transactions a month and with potential for future growth, it has issued a cap of 30% of total volume of transactions processed in UPI, applicable on all Third Party App Providers (TPAPs).

• This will be with effect from January 1, 2021. It will help to address the risks and protect the UPI ecosystem as it further scales up.

• The cap of 30% will be calculated basis the total volume of transactions processed in UPI during the preceding three months (on a rolling basis). The existing TPAPs exceeding the specified cap, will have a period of two years from January

2021, to comply with the same in a phased manner.