Will UPI be Free or Paid? Will You have to Pay Charges?

Recently, there were reports that UPI may be chargeable in coming months. This may be done as Banks incur high costs on running UPI framework. Right now, the Government pays for the charges incurred in UPI framework.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday has clarified that no proposal has been placed before the central bank to impose charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions. The statement came during the post-Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) press conference.

Even during the previous post-policy conference, the Governor had issued a clarification regarding the issue. “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,” he had said.

“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,” he had said.

The Governor has on multiple occasions raised concerns about the sustainability of UPI’s zero-cost framework.

According to RBI data, UPI processed 20 billion transactions in August 2025, reflecting a 34% increase in volume year-on-year.

At present, the government continues to support UPI by subsidising transaction costs to keep it free for users. UPI has become a game-changer for India. UPI is accepted almost everywhere in India. UPI has boosted the Indian Economy.

UPI Data 2025

Month	No. of Banks live on UPI	Volume (in Mn)	Value (in Cr.)
Aug-25	688	20,008.31	24,85,472.91
Jul-25	684	19,467.95	25,08,498.09
Jun-25	675	18,395.01	24,03,930.69
May-25	673	18,677.46	25,14,297.01
Apr-25	668	17,893.42	23,94,925.87
Mar-25	661	18,301.51	24,77,221.61
Feb-25	653	16,106.19	21,96,481.69
Jan-25	647	16,996.00	23,48,037.12