Paytm has reportedly started charging some users an extra fee for mobile recharges through its platform. The surcharge varies between Re 1 and Rs 6 as per the recharge amount. Reports have said that the fee is applicable on all Paytm mobile recharges, irrespective of the payment mode — whether done through Paytm Wallet balance or Unified Payments Interface (UPI) or bank credit or debit card. However, the surcharge is not applicable for all users yet. Though Paytm has not made any statement regarding this, some users have posted on Twitter that they were asked to pay a platform fee for mobile recharges.
Before Paytm, online payment app PhonePe has also started a pilot to charge a surcharge on mobile recharges.
According to reports, Paytm initially rolled out the convenience or platform fee to a few users in late March. However, the sudden increase in the recent user reports suggest that the update is now applicable to a large number of users.
The additional charge will reportedly be applicable on transactions above Rs 100. Some select users have been charged up to Rs 6 as an additional fee over and above the mobile recharge amount that they are paying through the Paytm app.
This has contradicted with its previous statement where it said that it will not charge any convenience or transaction fee from customers on using any payment method. Let us tell you that Paytm posted a tweet in 2019 that said the app would not charge any convenience or transaction fee from customers on using any payment method which included cards, UPI, and wallet.
Earlier in October, PhonePe began charging a surcharge that it calls “processing fee” to customers for mobile recharges above Rs 50. Like Paytm, PhonePe also charged some selected users with the charge at the time under a “small-scale experience”. Now more PhonePe users are being charged an additional fee for their mobile recharges.
Both PhonePe and Paytm have yet not officially revealed the criteria that they use to pick customers for charging the additional fee.
Meanwhile, Amazon Pay and Google Pay are not currently charging any additional charges for mobile recharges. So, some users have started to use these platforms for their mobile for the time being. The native app of telecom operators Airtel, Vi and Jio also also allows users to recharge their mobile balance.
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Ms Kalinga