India delays digital payments fee rollout amid retailer pushback
Following broad pushback from merchants across the country, India has delayed plans to introduce merchant fees on its digital payments network that aimed to make the business more lucrative for the companies that facilitate the payments service, long dominated by Google and PhonePe.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the country’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI), said on Tuesday it was postponing the planned October 15 rollout of a 0.4% fee on eligible merchant transactions exceeding ₹2,000 (about $21), citing the festive shopping season. The fee, announced last month, would mark a significant departure from India’s years-long policy of keeping UPI payments free for merchants.
The rollout will now take place after Diwali, one of India’s biggest festivals and shopping periods, though the NPCI did not specify a new date. In September alone, UPI processed 24.07 billion transactions worth ₹29.37 trillion (about $305 billion), per NPCI.
The proposed...
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