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Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

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31–40 of 43 posts

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happens if you lose your phone? There must be some way to transfer the account right?

nah, its not like that. your "upi address", like "abc@sbi" is tied to that phone/sim card/bank. if you change your phone or use a different app, that "handle" is reserved and not portable. if you change your phone or lost it, just get a duplicate sim card, install a UPI app and get a new address.

The handle is tied not to the device but to the mobile number. If you change your device you reregister on the new device and can continue to use the same handles.

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#33

Thanks very much! I would love to hear your comments. I think UPI is incredible and well loved because it's free - putting a toll on something moving at this insane speed is just going to slow it down tremendously.

I don't see why we can't move to tiered pricing. X number of transactions are free. Transactions above that count attract a small fee.

Small merchants will ditch UPI

Tiered just doesn't help if you want to encourage growth...it caps growth. Only very few large merchants will pay who already pay for debit or credit cards. Many of them pay for UPI anyhow as gateways charge a platform fee.

Banks are paid by float for all payments including neft, cheques and cash atm, all of which are free for small amounts and UPI is defined as a small amount. When float income stops then it makes sense to think of charging for upi.

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#34
post #28

Thanks very much! I would love to hear your comments. I think UPI is incredible and well loved because it's free - putting a toll on something moving at this insane speed is just going to slow it down tremendously.

Payments ultimately keep the economy running, and it's in the government's best interests to make sure there is as little friction as possible here. But I'm not sure it should be free. Because there is always a cost to things. If UPI is "free" then it is being funded by the taxpayers. The problem with that is, it's not very equitable distribution of cost. People who use payments less, are funding it on behalf of peop…

UPI is supposed to replace cash. Cash is free.

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#35
post #28

Thanks very much! I would love to hear your comments. I think UPI is incredible and well loved because it's free - putting a toll on something moving at this insane speed is just going to slow it down tremendously.

Payments ultimately keep the economy running, and it's in the government's best interests to make sure there is as little friction as possible here. But I'm not sure it should be free. Because there is always a cost to things. If UPI is "free" then it is being funded by the taxpayers. The problem with that is, it's not very equitable distribution of cost. People who use payments less, are funding it on behalf of peop…

Banking payments are never useful to charge progressively. Always, one part of the banking system subsidises the other, so some players will pay for others, some borrowers will pay higher for others to get lower rates etc. Banking is not a bunch of silos, it's fungible, interconnected, dependant activities. Usage based fees are not good; you want people to transact more so you can earn more float income on average rather than nickle and dime out fees from a few and this reduce growth. The float income pays for everything and much much more, so no point doing usage based fees

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#37
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UPI is not a money holding account by itself. It’s an identifier for your bank account. You can have multiple identifiers for the same bank account (like email aliases pointing to one mailbox). UPI is primarily available on smartphones through an app. The setup process involves the UPI app (could be bank’s app or a third party app like Google Pay) sending an SMS with a specific code to NPCI (the private consortium op…

How do you validate yourself as the owner of the bank account especially if that validation happens over SMS? Is there a password or pin that is secret? Or do you have to go to the bank website and initiate an SMS send to your new phone? How are very rural people able to navigate all that complexity given how prevalent UPI is at this point?

The phone number has to be registered with the bank in person for the first time (usually while opening the account). After that it is just 2fa. It is genuinely easier to use than to explain

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why we can't move to tiered pricing. X number of transactions are free. Transactions above that count attract a small fee.

Small merchants will ditch UPI Tiered just doesn't help if you want to encourage growth...it caps growth. Only very few large merchants will pay who already pay for debit or credit cards. Many of them pay for UPI anyhow as gateways charge a platform fee. Banks are paid by float for all payments including neft, cheques and cash atm, all of which are free for small amounts and UPI is defined as a small amount. When flo…

Didn't realize you actually had an account here - long time reader Mr. Shenoy.

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nah, its not like that. your "upi address", like "abc@sbi" is tied to that phone/sim card/bank. if you change your phone or use a different app, that "handle" is reserved and not portable. if you change your phone or lost it, just get a duplicate sim card, install a UPI app and get a new address.

The handle is tied not to the device but to the mobile number. If you change your device you reregister on the new device and can continue to use the same handles.

dunno. i changed phones and lost out on a vanity address because "it was already in use"... maybe things have changed ? i am not sure

Re: Why peer to peer digital payment system UPI should remain free in India

#40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Payments ultimately keep the economy running, and it's in the government's best interests to make sure there is as little friction as possible here. But I'm not sure it should be free. Because there is always a cost to things. If UPI is "free" then it is being funded by the taxpayers. The problem with that is, it's not very equitable distribution of cost. People who use payments less, are funding it on behalf of peop…

Banking payments are never useful to charge progressively. Always, one part of the banking system subsidises the other, so some players will pay for others, some borrowers will pay higher for others to get lower rates etc. Banking is not a bunch of silos, it's fungible, interconnected, dependant activities. Usage based fees are not good; you want people to transact more so you can earn more float income on average ra…

Ultimately somebody has to fund NPCI for the interchange infrastructure. If the banks have to absorb the cost, then smaller players will be hurt and find it difficult to compete. If RBI absorbs the cost, then we are back to the taxpayer situation. There is no such thing as a free service really if you think about it.
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