75% users say they’ll stop using UPI if transaction fee is levied: Survey

Amid concerns over transaction charges on UPI, around 75 per cent of the users say they will stop using it if any transaction charge is levied on the service, a survey by Localcircles, a community social media platform, said on Sunday.

“Only 22 per cent UPI users surveyed are willing to bear a transaction fee on payments, 75 per cent of respondents stated that they will stop using UPI if a transaction fee is introduced,” the survey stated.

Also, the percentage of UPI users unwilling to pay a transaction fee has, in fact, marginally increased from 73 per cent to 75 per cent since the last survey in March 2024.

The survey stated when asked about charges on UPI transactions, of 15,598 users who responded to the question 75 per cent stated that there should be no charge on UPI transactions, and “I will stop using if a charge is introduced”, while 5 per cent of respondents stated that there should be “fixed fee per transaction”, 6 per cent stated they were agreeable with “fee that is a percentage of the transaction value”; 11 per cent stated they were agreeable to a “fixed fee up to a certain threshold and a percentage of transaction value above that” and 3 per cent of respondents did not give a clear answer.

The survey found that 38 per cent of the users make over 50 per cent of their payment transactions via UPI instead of debit, credit or any other form of digital transaction.

The survey received nearly 42,000 responses from consumers in 308 districts of India. At least 63 per cent were men, while 37 percent of the respondents were women. Also, 41 per cent respondents were from tier 1, 30 per cent from tier 2 and 29 per cent respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. The survey was conducted between July 15, 2024 and September 20, 2024.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) posted a record 57 per cent rise in the volume of transactions and 44 per cent rise in value in the 2023-24 fiscal year, as compared to the previous fiscal year. For the first time, UPI transactions crossed 100 billion and closed at 131 billion in a financial year, compared to 84 billion in 2022-23, while in value it touched Rs 199.89 trillion, compared to Rs 139.1 trillion.

In the first three months of the current fiscal year, UPI transactions have grown over 36 per cent to Rs 66 lakh crore, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha. “At least 4,122 crore UPI transactions worth Rs 60 lakh crore took place between April-June 2024,” he stated.