You may pay extra for mobile recharges on PhonePe
The next time you recharge your mobile phone using PhonePe, you might be charged an additional fee. This Walmart Group-owned online payments and third-party UPI app has become the country's first to start charging Re. 1 to Rs. 2 per transaction for mobile recharges worth over Rs. 50. The platform called this a small-scale experiment. Here are more details about this.
Only recharges over Rs. 100 to be charged Rs. 2
PhonePe said it is running a "very small-scale experiment where a few users are paying for mobile recharges." Recharges worth less than Rs. 50 won't attract any charges. Mobile connection recharges worth between Rs. 50 and Rs. 100 are charged Re. 1 per transaction and those worth over Rs. 100 are charged Rs. 2. Other transactions on the platform will remain free of charge.
Not the only platform charging processing fees on bill payments
As for bill payments, PhonePe clarified it is not the only payment platform charging a fee for such transactions. "Charging a small fee on bill payments is now a standard industry practice and is done by other biller websites and payment platforms also," a spokesperson said. They further explained that the processing fee is charged only for payments with credit cards.
You could use other payment platforms that don't charge fee
PhonePe also said only a few users would pay extra for mobile recharges in this small-scale experiment. That said, a Rs. 2 processing fee is not a big deal, but if you want to avoid paying it anyway, you could switch to recharging your mobile phone connections using other similar payments apps such as Google Pay and Paytm, among others.
PhonePe remains one of India's most popular UPI apps
PhonePe, founded in 2015, is the brainchild of former Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer. Data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) shows that today, PhonePe consistently maintains the largest market share among third-party UPI apps in India. It processed a colossal 165 crore UPI transactions in September alone and also had a 40% share in the app segment.
