PhonePe users criticize the processing fee on prepaid mobile recharges

PhonePe users have taken to social media to express their disappointment at the processing fee on mobile recharges above Rs. 50. The company has confirmed that recharges below Rs. 50 are not charged, top-ups between Rs. 50-100 is charged Rs. 1, and above 100 rupees Rs. 2. PhonePe maintains that this is a "very small-scale experiment" and that it does not affect all users. Affected users have been criticizing this move, as other portals continue to not charge an additional processing fee on mobile recharges.

In an official statement, PhonePe says:"We are running a very small-scale experiment where some users are paying a small processing fee for mobile Recharges. Recharges below Rs. 50 are not charged, recharges between Rs. 50-100 are charged Re. 1 and above Rs. 100 are charged Rs. 2. Given the tiered nature of the processing fee, a large section of users are either paying nothing or paying Re. 1."PhonePe clarifies that the processing fee is charged only on mobile prepaid recharges and applies to all instruments payment, including credit cards, debit cards and UPI.

As mentioned, PhonePe continues to charge no fee for recharges below Rs. 50. While PhonePe has introduced this as an experiment, other platforms such as Freecharge or Paytm do not charge processing fees on mobile recharges. PhonePe says this is an experiment and not a commercial launch. You can reverse it depending on the comments. Currently, the additional processing fee is displayed for multiple users, including multiple accounts that we personally verify.

Most digital payment apps charge a transaction fee on payments made via credit cards, including PhonePe. However, it becomes the first to charge a fee to all instruments when recharging mobile devices. The company has clarified that other payments made through UPI will continue to be free and no charge will be charged.

Data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) in July this year showed that PhonePe dominated the UPI application ecosystem in India with a market share of 46.04 percent. PhonePe conducted 1,292.71 million transactions worth Rs. 2,62,565.88 million rupees in June which were 142.87 million more than the 1,149.84 million it made in May. As of September, this has risen to 1,653.19 million transactions worth Rs. 3,06,437.37 crore.