According to the new policy for paying bills through Google Pay, 0.5% to 1% fee and GST will have to be paid when paying through debit and credit cards
After the increasing popularity of UPI transactions, Google Pay has now imposed a convenience fee on utility bill payments. Earlier, a fee of Rs 3 was imposed on mobile recharges. However, now an additional fee will be charged for paying electricity and gas bills as well. Therefore, many users are wondering whether to switch to other platforms other than Google Pay? Or many are looking for ways to save on this fee.
According to the new policy for paying bills through Google Pay, only 0.5% to 1% fee and GST will have to be paid when paying through debit and credit cards. However, there will be no additional fee if you make a UPI transaction directly from a bank account. This means that if you link a bank account and make a direct UPI payment, you will not have to spend any extra.
According to an ET report, if you pay your electricity bill through a credit card, you may have to pay a convenience fee of around Rs 15.
According to Google Pay’s website, this fee is applicable only for card payments, not for bank account-linked UPI transactions. Therefore, you can save on this additional fee by making direct UPI payments.
•Other UPI Platforms•
Platforms like PhonePe and Paytm also charge some convenience fee. PhonePe charges a convenience fee on card payments for piped gas and electricity bills. Paytm charges Rs 1 to Rs 40 for mobile recharges, gas, water and credit card payments using UPI. Users will still have to pay the fee even if they switch from Google Pay to another UPI platform. Therefore, this decision is unlikely to have much impact on Google Pay users.
Google Pay has a 37% market share in UPI transactions, while PhonePe is currently the market leader. Walmart-backed PhonePe has a market share of 47.8%. Apart from this, Paytm, Navi, Cred and Amazon Pay are also popular.
Paytm’s market share has decreased somewhat due to recent interventions by RBI, and other companies are coming forward.
How To Save These Additional Fees?
If you want to avoid convenience fees on Google Pay or other UPI platforms, the only option is to make payments through UPI by linking your bank account directly. Instead of paying with a debit or credit card, pay directly from your bank account and use official UPI apps for bill payments.
