Why I Stopped Using UPI for Small Payments

 

Recently, two things happened. First, I stopped making payments of small amounts using UPI (Unified Payment Interface). This may sound strange, but my reasoning was simple. Each time I made payment of a few rupees using UPI, the transaction got recorded in my bank account statement. If I download my bank account statement, it would run over a lot of pages. It would make it more difficult for me to find or track any important transaction, if such a need arises. Even if there is no need to read bank statement, I found it totally useless to have 100 pages of yearly bank statement comprising of thousands of small amount transactions of Rs 10, 20, 30 and so on. Did the designers of UPI never think about it? 

Once I stopped using UPI, I started using (digital) 'Wallet' for making such small payment. I would load my Wallet with a bigger amount, a couple of times every month using debit card or UPI, and then make use of the Wallet for small payments. It made sense, since the small payment records remained in the Wallet app and did not inflate my bank account statement with unnecessary data.

Now, what is the second thing that happened. I read a news that data showed that customers were using UPI for small payments in a big way and the trend would continue! The huge growth in UPI payments had led to average cash withdrawals from ATMs to increase, since people made small payments using UPI and extracted cash only when bigger payments were necessary.

Given my experience, it seemed as if I was going against the national trend. The national trend is towards UPI, while I have given up on UPI already. Does this mean that I, as an early adopter, have shown an early trend of quitting and other people are going to follow me too? Only time can tell.

I have also been thing about how technology is being called up for very simple activities, which is leading to harmful impact on the environment. I find it pretty useless to make computers, supercomputers, satellites, banking software and communication channels – all being called upon duty merely because I want to make a payment of Rs 10 using UPI to my neighboring tea stall. How about climate change and caring a bit about the environment? Why do we need sophisticated technologies (which all result in carbon emissions) for such a simple thing like making a payment of Rs 5 or 10?

It is to be seen which way the trend will go, but my current mood is clear – I have given up on UPI. UPI feels like a cold soulless capitalist machinery to me, which does harm to our environment and does no good to anyone except the companies running the show.

- Rahul Tiwary