India’s UPI Payments System to Start Charging Merchants, CNBC Reports

India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), described by CNBC as the world’s largest real-time payments system, is set to begin charging fees to merchants, ending a long-standing policy of free transactions, the outlet reported in its “Inside India” newsletter.

According to CNBC, UPI currently processes more than 1 million transactions every two minutes without charge to either consumers or merchants. The report said this model is now changing, with merchants expected to face fees going forward.

The CNBC report referenced companies including Visa, Amazon and PhonePe in connection with the shift, though the excerpt reviewed did not provide further detail on the specific fee structure, timeline, or which transactions would be affected.

UPI, developed and overseen by India’s National Payments Corporation of India, has become central to the country’s digital economy since its 2016 launch, enabling instant bank-to-bank transfers via mobile phones for everyday purchases, bill payments and peer-to-peer transactions.

CNBC did not specify in the excerpt reviewed whether the fee changes have been finalized by regulators or industry players, or when they might take effect. Further details on the scope and implementation of the change were not available in the source material.