If you use Google Pay to pay your electricity bill at home, get ready for a shock. Apps that offer multiple services, from UPI payments to bill payments, have started increasing the financial burden on customers. Almost every platform has begun charging a convenience fee for bill payments, and now Google Pay has joined the race. The company has started collecting a convenience charge from users.
Charges Will Now Apply to These Services
According to a report by The Economic Times, if you use a credit or debit card to pay your bills, you will be charged a fee ranging from 0.5% to 1% of the transaction amount. Additionally, GST will also be applied to this charge. Until now, Google Pay did not impose any extra fees for bill payments. However, the company has not yet provided any official information regarding this convenience charge.
Charges on Mobile Recharges
The Economic Times report also states that Google Pay has been charging a ₹3 convenience fee on mobile recharges for the past year. It further mentions that when a customer paid an electricity bill using a credit card, the app charged them ₹15 as a convenience fee. This fee is displayed in the app as a “processing fee for debit/credit card transactions,” which also includes GST.
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Will UPI Transactions Be Charged Too?
As of now, there is no information regarding any charges on UPI transactions made through Google Pay. However, according to global service firm PwC, stakeholders incur a cost of 0.25% per transaction in the UPI process. To cover these expenses, fintech companies seem to be adopting new revenue models. Currently, UPI transactions remain free, and while there have been discussions about imposing charges on UPI payments, the government has so far kept them free for users.