Shares of Indian payment firms soar as merchant fee to be imposed on some digital transactions

Shares of Indian payment firms rose broadly today, after the country's digital payments network announced yesterday it would allow operators to charge a fee, starting mid-October. Merchants will be charged a fee of 0.4% for transactions of more than 2,000 rupees, or around US$20 on the Unified Payments Interface. Analysts said the move could boost the industry's annual revenues by up to US$1 billion. Person-to-person transactions remain free of charge. The UPI dominates India's digital payments ecosystem, accounting for more than 80% by transaction volume and just under half of global real-time payments. Priyata Brajabasi reports from India's tech capital of Bengaluru.