QRIS fees for merchants

Previously, the QRIS Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) was set at 0%, or free, until June 30, 2023. A new 0.3% rate was introduced after July 1, 2023.

Erwin Haryono, Executive Director of the Communication Department, said that the imposition of this tariff is to replace investment and operational costs incurred by various parties involved in organizing QRIS transactions.

"The implementation of the UMI QRIS MDR is carried out to maintain the sustainability of the QRIS service delivery ecosystem in the long term, including improving the quality of service to traders and users," said Haryono.

He considered that BI had set a low rate given to micro merchants. Moreover, BI does not take a dime for profit.

"QRIS's MDR policy is set by taking into account pro-UMI merchants so that the MDR charge is the lowest of all merchant segments subject to MDR and is still more efficient than MDR fees from other payment methods," he said.

Besides MDR, traders are also subject to other fees for using QRIS such as admin or settlement.

The MDR fee for each transaction is charged differently. For regular transactions the amount is 0.7%, education transactions are 0.6%, and transactions at gas stations are 0.4%, and the latest for UMI is 0.3%.

Experts response to the new rate

Expert considered the fee as inappropriate because it will reduce the number of QRIS service users which can disrupt the adaptation of digital or cashless payments.

Ronny P Sasmita, a senior analyst at the Indonesia Strategic and Economic Action Institution, said that the application of this service fee has the potential to make users to move away from QRIS, because no matter how small the fee is, it will still feel like a burden to micro-scale businesses.

"The imposition of various fees for merchants and merchants who use QRIS services actually makes this payment application less competitive and gradually has the opportunity to be abandoned by its customers," he added.

Sasmita assesses that if traders start to be reluctant to use QRIS for reasons of many discounted costs, consumers will automatically follow suit.