Our Bureau
Mumbai
The Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Sanjay Malhotra, this Wednesday, on 6th August, has given out a statement hinting that the UPI transactions might not stay free forever. The Governor stated that their will be a time eventually when someone will have to bear the cost of running these digital payment systems.
Mr. Malhotra during the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference, clarified, “I never said that UPI can stay free forever. What I said was there are costs (associated with UPI transactions), and they need to be paid for by someone. Who pays is important but not so important than someone footing the bill. So, it is important for us for the sustainability of the model, that whether collectively or individually someone pays. The government is subsidising it… I never said that users will have to pay.”
A month ago, in July at the Financial Express BFSI Summit in Mumbai, the RBI Governor had said that the government of India is subsidising several sectors such as banks and some other stakeholders in the UPI payments system. Mr. Malhotra however, highlighted that it would not be cost free and some compensations will have to be done.
“This (UPI) is an important infrastructure. The government has taken a view it should be available free and the government is subsidising it. The important thing is that the UPI, or any other payment system for that matter, is accessible, cheap, secure, and sustainable… and it will be sustainable only if someone bears the costs. So as long as it’s the government or someone else — that’s not so important — the important thing is that costs of any service should be paid, whether collectively or by the user,” Malhotra added.
