PhonePe starts charging users for paying mobile bills. Details here

Walmart's Group online payment application PhonePe has become the country's first such app that has started charging for mobile recharges. Digital payment app PhonePe has started charging processing fees in the range of ₹1 to ₹2 per transaction for mobile charges done for above ₹50.

The company said it is not charging anything for mobile recharges below ₹50. For recharges between ₹50 and ₹100, it is charging ₹1 and above ₹100 mobile charges, the PhonePe customers will be charged ₹2.

"On recharges, we are running a very small-scale experiment where a few users are paying for mobile recharges. Recharges below ₹50 are not charged, recharges between ₹50 and ₹100 are charged Re 1, and above ₹100 are charged ₹2. Essentially, as a part of the experiment, a majority of users are either not paying anything or paying Re 1," PhonePe said.

And, like other players, PhonePe is also charging processing fees for payments made through credit cards. However, other transactions on PhonePe and money transfers will continue to remain free of charge.

To clarify on bill payments, "we are not the only player or payment platform charging a fee. Charging a small fee on bill payments is now a standard industry practice and is done by other biller websites and payment platforms also. We charge a processing fee (called as convenience fee on other platforms) on payments with credit cards only," the PhonePe spokesperson said.

PhonePe has the largest share in terms of UPI transactions among the third-party apps. The company had recorded over 165-crore UPI transactions on its platform in September, clocking over 40% share among the app segment. PhonePe was founded in 2015 by former Flipkart executives Sameer Nigam, Rahul Chari, and Burzin Engineer. The digital payment app has over 300 million registered users.

(With PTI inputs)