Around 38 per cent of UPI users make more than 50 per cent of their payments via UPI instead of using debit, credit, or any other form of online transaction.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is fast becoming one of the most preferred modes of online payments in India for peer-to-peer and merchant transactions. However, would you still use this highly efficient payment mode if it charged you a fee? A recent survey report from LocalCircles, a research agency, shows that three out of five UPI users say they will stop using this payment mode once the transaction fee is implemented.
“There should be no charge on UPI transactions, and I will stop using if a charge is introduced,” the survey report stated based on responses from 15,598 UPI users across India.
The survey found that around 38 per cent of UPI users make over 50 per cent of their payments in this transaction mode instead of using debit, credit, or any other form of the online transaction.
Some 22 per cent of the UPI users said they are willing to bear a transaction fee while 3 per cent were unsure about their response.
The survey recorded around 42,000 responses from consumers located across 308 districts of India wherein 63 per cent of the respondents were men, and 37 per cent were women.
The sample size was 41 per cent from Tier 1, 30 per cent from Tier 2, and 29 per cent from Tier 3, 4, and rural districts.
The report also highlighted that around 37 per cent of respondents said UPI transactions account for over 50 per cent of their total payment in terms of value.
Moreover, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) witnessed a record 57 per cent increase in the volume of transactions and 44 per cent rise in value in the financial year (FY) 2023-24 as compared to the FY 22-23. "With UPI rapidly becoming an integral part of nearly 4 in 10 consumers, there is strong resistance to any kind of direct or indirect transaction charges being imposed,” the report stated.
The research agency further stated that it intends to escalate the findings of this survey with the Ministry of Finance and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on behalf of the UPI users before any MDR charges are levied.