Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday that the central government believes that this is not the right time to make digital payments chargeable.
Speaking at an event, Nirmala Sitharaman said, “We see digital payment as the public good. People should be able to access it freely so that the digitisation of the Indian economy becomes attractive. Also, through digitisation, we achieve a level of transparency which is so required.”
“Therefore, we still think it is not the right time to make it chargeable. We are more and more pushing toward open digital transactions, digitisation and platforms which can enable great access. The RBI’s recommendation is to a working paper and lets the working paper where it is,” the Minister added.
Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement came against the backdrop of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking feedback from the public on the various changes proposed in the payments system, including the possibility of imposing tiered charges on transactions done through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).