The Payments Council of India on Friday said Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions will continue to remain free for consumers and that small merchants, including kirana stores, will not be charged for accepting digital payments, seeking to allay concerns over reports of possible merchant charges.The clarification comes amid growing debate over the sustainability of India's digital payments ecosystem and discussions around introducing merchant charges for certain categories of businesses."UPI will continue to remain free for consumers, and small merchants will not be charged for accepting digital payments," the authority said in a statement.Also read: Will UPI become chargeable? FM Niramala Sitharaman clears the airPCI said any merchant service charges (MSC), where applicable, would be commercial arrangements between merchants and payment service providers and would not translate into consumers paying for UPI transactions."Banks, fintech companies, NPCI and the RBI have been investing in technology, cybersecurity, fraud prevention and innovation to maintain UPI's reliability. Any merchant service charges, where applicable, would be commercial arrangements between merchants and payment providers and would not mean consumers have to pay for using UPI," it said.The council noted that UPI has remained free for consumers since its launch in 2016 and was designed to make digital payments accessible even for the smallest businesses. Protecting small merchants continues to remain central to the ecosystem's inclusive growth, it added.Citing recent discussions around UPI charges, the council noted that the platform has evolved into the world's largest real-time payment system, processing billions of transactions every month. As transaction volumes continue to surge, stakeholders are exploring ways to sustainably support the infrastructure required to maintain the system while ensuring consumers and small merchants remain protected.According to the body, banks, payment companies, fintech firms, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have collectively invested for nearly a decade in technology, cybersecurity, fraud prevention, innovation and customer support to build and maintain the payments infrastructure.It added that the costs of operating the national payments network, including investments in security, compliance, customer support and technology, are currently borne by banks and payment service providers and further stressed that merchant service charges, where applicable for larger merchants, are a standard feature of digital payment ecosystems globally and should not be interpreted as charges on consumers using UPI.The industry body said continued investment in infrastructure, security and innovation will be critical to ensuring that UPI, now a key national digital public infrastructure, remains reliable and resilient as usage continues to grow.The statement comes soon after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rejected Congress' claim that ordinary people could end up paying more for UPI transactions. She clarified that any Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charged on digital transactions would be borne by merchants, not customers.