Paytm says no fees on your transactions; also tells how to avoid merchant charges

Mobile wallet company Paytm has denied a report about charging transaction and convenience fees on its platform after a media report said that Paytm will now charge transaction fees. In a tweet, Paytm said that as of now, it does not levy charges from customers on any payment method including cards, UPI and wallet. In its official blog, the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-founded company also said, “Paytm customers can continue using all services available on our platform without any fee”. It also explained why some merchants levy charges and how can customers avoid them.

Paytm said in the blog that certain dealers such as educational institutes or utility service providers which charge a small fee on credit card usage and do not bear that themselves. “In such cases, we recommend our users to pay through their debit cards and UPI to avoid these charges,” Paytm said, adding that the company does not plan to charge consumers in the future either.

However, few customers have complained on Twitter and shared screenshot of convenience fees charged on some transactions while others tweeted that 4-5% charges are being levied on adding money from Paytm wallet. The company told Financial Express Online that these charges aren’t levied by Paytm in any scenario.

Earlier today, The Economic Times reported that Paytm will now start passing on Merchant Discount Rate to consumers as banks and card companies charge the same on digital transactions. According to the same report, this will help the company in reducing the burn rate and make it more profitable.

The Alibaba-backed digital wallet company is India’s largest payment gateway and has almost half of the share in the market. According to the company’s official blog, it processes over 400 million transactions every month; almost five-fold of the next bigger player in the market. Paytm platform is used by many leading online players such as IRCTC, Uber, Zomato, Oyo, Grofers, Big Basket, PVR, Club Factory, Dominos, JIO and Idea among others.

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