According To Nirmala Sitharaman, This Is Not The Time To Charge For Digital Payments

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister, stated on Friday that the Central Government does not think it is appropriate to charge for digital payments at this time. Ms. Sitharaman remarked during a speech at a event, "We see digital payment as the public good. People should be able to access it freely so that the digitization of the Indian economy becomes attractive. Also, through digitization, we achieve a level of transparency which is so required."

"Therefore, we still think it is not the right time to make it chargeable. We are more and more pushing toward open digital transactions, digitization, and platforms that can enable great access. The RBI's recommendation is to a working paper and lets the working paper where it is," said the Minister. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which is proposing a number of modifications to the payments system, including the prospect of placing tiered fees on transactions made through the Unified Payments Interface, was collecting comments from the general public when Ms. Sitharaman made her statement (UPI).

But last week, the Indian government declared that it will not charge for UPI (Unified Payments Interface) services. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released a discussion paper on "Charges in Payment Systems" for public comment, as stated in the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies dated December 8, 2021, RBI said in a statement. On August 17, the discussion paper was made public. RBI actions in the payment systems have been geared toward reducing frictions that may be brought on by systemic, administrative, or revenue-related concerns.

Despite the fact that there are numerous middlemen in the payments transaction chain, consumer complaints are typically about expensive and opaque fees.