You might have across claims flooding in the social media which says, UPI is no longer free and that one will be charged 1.1 percent fee of UPI transactions of Rs 2000 or above starting from April 1. But worry not, such claims are fake and misleading and the National Payment Corporation of India clarifies it through their official Twitter handle.

The National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) in its official Twitter handle issued a statement clarifying that there is no charge to customers on online transactions.

As per the recent regulatory guidelines, the interchange charges introduced are only applicable for Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) which means UPI transactions made through PPIs such as wallets, credit cards will have an interchange fee of 1.1%.

Additionally, it clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments i.e. normal UPI payments.

The new NPCI press release stated, "The Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI wallets) have been permitted to be part of interoperable UPI ecosystem. The interchange charges introduced are only applicable for the PPI merchant transactions and there is no charge to customers, and it is further clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments (i.e. normal UPI payments)."

 “With this addition to UPI, the customers will have the choice of using any bank accounts, Rupay Credit card and prepaid wallets on UPI enabled apps," the press release further added.

The press release clarified that “UPI is free, fast, secure and seamless.”