Banks and payment-system providers cannot impose charges on Unified Payments Interface transactions of up to 2,000 rupees under a new government notification.
The same protection applies to payments of up to 2,000 rupees made with RuPay-powered debit cards. The notification bars both direct and indirect charges on people making or receiving payments through the specified modes.
The Finance Ministry issued the clarification under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act and formally categorised the covered UPI and RuPay transactions as electronic modes of payment.
The measure follows public concern that recent legal changes could open the way to charges for ordinary UPI users. The government has separately said person-to-person UPI transfers will remain free and that there will be no blanket merchant discount rate for businesses.
For households and small merchants, the operative detail is the 2,000-rupee threshold. Any future fee framework for larger or selected merchant transactions would require separate rules and should not be confused with the protection now notified for small-value payments.
