Nirmala Sitharaman says it's not yet appropriate to charge for digital payments.

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister, stated on Friday that the federal government does not think it is appropriate to charge for digital payments at this time.
Ms. Sitharaman remarked during a speech at a gathering, "We see the public benefit in digital payments. For the Indian economy to successfully transition to the digital age, people should have unrestricted access to it. We also attain the amount of transparency that is necessary thanks to digitization."

"Therefore, we continue to believe that the moment is not yet ripe to make it a charge. We are putting more and more effort towards digitisation, open digital transactions, and platforms that can provide excellent access. The RBI advises creating a working paper and leaving it in its current location "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 this 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.

Payment service fees should be affordable and competitively set for users while also offering the intermediaries the best possible revenue stream.

Reviewing the numerous fees assessed by the payment systems was deemed informative, and several aspects were highlighted while seeking stakeholder input.

The RBI is the owner and operator of the RTGS and NEFT payment systems in India.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a not-for-profit organisation supported by banks, is the owner and operator of systems including IMPS, RuPay, UPI, and others.

The other organisations, such as card networks and PPI providers, are profit-maximizing private businesses.

Notably, in July, there were more digital transactions than at any time since 2016. According to information made available by the National Payments Corporation of India, UPI reported 6.28 billion transactions totaling 10.62 trillion (NPCI).