Rs 5000/Day Penalty For Not Accepting RuPay Debit Card, UPI Payments

It seems that the Govt is determined to make UPI and RuPay mode of payments bigger than other forms of cashless payments.



After announcing zero MDR charges for using RuPay and UPI, Govt. has now announced a steep fine of Rs 5000 per day, if any business doesn’t accept UPI and RuPay debit cards as mode of payments from customers.



Which businesses will be impacted here?



Keep reading to find out more!



Rs 5000/Day Penalty For These Businesses



Businesses and firms, which have more than Rs 50 crore annual revenues, should mandatorily provide UPI and RuPay mode of payment to their customers.



In case they are not able to do it, then Govt will impose a penalty of Rs 5000 per day on these businesses.



Hence, only those businesses which have Rs 50 crore or more annual revenue will be impacted here.



This new rule will be imposed from February 1st, 2020.



These new rules have been announced by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).



In their notification they said, “In order to allow sufficient time to the specified person to install and operationalise the facility for accepting payment through prescribed electronic modes, it is hereby clarified that the penalty shall not be levied if the specified person installs and operationalises the facilities on or before January 31, 2020,”



As per CBDT, this move will assist in greater usability and adaptability of cashless mode of transactions.



Is This Nationalisation Of Payment Platform?



Last month, Govt. had shocked the payments industry in India, by announcing absolutely zero MDR for all cashless payments done by RuPay and UPI, for those businesses which have annual revenues of more than Rs 50 crore.



Hence, if a customer uses RuPay debit card and/or UPI to pay for any product or service from these companies, then will be no extra charges.



Private payment firms have vehemently opposed this move, as they have described this as ‘Nationalisation of Payments’ by Indian Govt.



They have warned that this move can kill innovation, kill jobs, and kill the Digital India dream.



We will keep you updated, as more details come in.