Digital payments platform Paytm denied reports that the company will charge transaction fees to customers beginning July 1. The Economic Times today reported that Paytm will now pass on the merchant discount rate (MDR) to its customers, making transactions through Paytm costly.

The move would help reduce the burn rate of the SoftBank-backed company and turn it profitable, reported ET, citing two people aware of the development.

Paytm has clarified that the company does not charge any convenience fee from customers on using any payment method.

"There have been few merchants like educational institutes or utility service providers who do not absorb credit card charges and expect customers to pay the same. We would like to reiterate that these charges aren’t levied by Paytm in any scenario," said Paytm.

The payment firm also added that it does not plan to levy any such charges in future.

MDR is charged by banks and card companies to customers for digital transactions.

For Paytm, the charge amounts to 1 percent on payments through credit cards, 0.9 percent for debit cards and up to Rs 12-15 for transactions by net banking and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), one of the sources told ET, adding that Paytm has been absorbing the charge and has not been charging anything extra for payments made through the platform.

First Published:Jul 1, 2019 11:18 AM IST