New Delhi: PhonePe has started charging processing fees on mobile recharges done for recharges above Rs 50. The Walmart group's digital payments firm is charging processing fees in the range of Re 1 to Rs 2 per transaction, even through UPI.


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PhonePe is apparently the first digital payments platform that has started charging processing fee for UPI-based mobile recharges. Its competitors such as GooglePe and Paytm currently doesn’t charge any fee from customers for UPI recharges. 


"On recharges, we are running a very small-scale experiment where a few users are paying for mobile recharges. Recharges below Rs 50 are not charged, recharges between Rs 50 and Rs 100 are charged Re 1 and above Rs 100 are charged Rs 2. Essentially, as a part of the experiment, a majority of users are either not paying anything or paying Re 1," a PhonePe spokesperson said.


Currently, PhonePe enjoys that the largest share in terms of UPI transactions among the third-party apps, followed by GooglePay. In September 2021, the app had clocked over 165-crore UPI transactions on its platform, recording over 40 per cent market share. 


"We are not the only player or payment platform charging a fee. Charging a small fee on bill payments is now a standard industry practice and is done by other biller websites and payment platforms also. We charge a processing fee (called a convenience fee on other platforms) on payments with credit cards only," the spokesperson added. Also Read: EFPO starts crediting 8.5% PF interest ahead of Diwali: Check how to withdraw money in 1 hour


However, to make mobile recharges still lucrative, PhonePe has also decided to offer guaranteed cashback to customers. The company said that users recharging via the PhonePe app will win assured cashback of up to Rs 50 on prepaid mobile recharges. This will be applicable to users after the completion of three prepaid mobile recharges, above Rs 51. Also Read: Paytm IPO: Fintech firm gets SEBI nod for mega Rs 16,600-crore offer