// BBC BUSINESS NEWS — FINANZA
India built the world's biggest digital payments miracle. Now comes the bill
A vegetable vendor waits for customers at a market in Kolkata, with a QR code displayed for digital payments
For most Indians, paying by Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has become almost absurdly routine.
Scan a QR code, tap a few buttons and the money moves instantly. There is no card machine, no cash, and - most importantly - for the user, no visible fee.
India has paved the way, external for banks and payment companies to charge merchants a fee on UPI transactions, potentially ending a decade-long experiment in free digital payments.
The government has yet to decide the rate or exactly where it will apply, but proposals under discussion include a merchant discount rate (MDR) of 0.3-0.5% - a small fee paid by a business to the banks and payment companies that process its UPI payments - on larger transactions at big businesses.
The government says, external consumers and person-to-person UPI payments will remain free. If merchant fees are introduced, they will apply only to some transactions above a set threshold, at a nominal rate, meaning most UPI payments will remain free.
The question is whether putting a price on UPI could weaken the network that made it such a success.
The stakes are enormous. Launched in 2016, UPI has grown into one of the world's biggest real-time payment networks.
A man stands beside a horse fitted with a payments QR code near its eye, allowing riders to pay digitally after a beach ride
According to official data, in July alone, there were 23.6 billion UPI transactions worth 29.87 trillion rupees ($313.5bn; £232.2bn). Fintech apps such as PhonePe and Google Pay account for most UPI payments.