Google Pay to levy convenience fee on bill payments, says report. Check details

The move comes after the Google Pay announced a convenience fee of Rs 3 on mobile recharges last year.

Google Pay has started charging a convenience fee on payments of bills through credit and debit cards in a development that could hurt customers, The Economic Times reported on February.

The payments platform will levy this fee for payments of electricity, water and cooking bills, the newspaper said, adding that UPI transactions done directly from bank accounts will continue to remain free.

The report further said that the convenience fee will range between 0.5 percent and 1 percent and goods and services tax will be applicable on the transactions.

The move comes after the Google Pay announced a convenience fee of Rs 3 on mobile recharges last year. The development is seen as a step towards sustainable revenue generation by monetizing transactions to cover the processing costs of fintech companies.

Google Pay’s other two rivals PhonePe and Paytm also levy fees on bill payments. The Google-owned platform is the second-biggest digital payments platform in India with a market share of 37 percent in the total UPI transactions.

According to an India Today report, a person-to-merchant transaction costs 0.25 percent to the stakeholders. The TV channel further said UPI transactions in FY24 cost Rs 12,000 crore, out of which Rs 4,000 crore was incurred on payments of less than Rs 2,000.