PhonePe has updated its wallet policy and introduced a quarterly inactivity fee for wallets that do not see any financial transactions for 365 consecutive days. According to the company’s revised guidelines, such wallets will be marked inactive and may attract a Rs 100 fee every quarter, including GST.
The move is aimed at dormant wallet accounts, while normal login activity or UPI use will not count as wallet activity.
The company has also clarified that the charge applies only to PhonePe Wallet balances that remain unused for a year. Activities such as logging into the app, making UPI payments, using other on-app services, or submitting KYC do not reset the wallet activity status. In short, only a financial transaction through the wallet keeps the account active under this rule.
What PhonePe’s new wallet fee means for users
Once a wallet is marked inactive, PhonePe says it will notify users multiple times during a 15-day period before the fee is deducted. If the user completes a financial transaction through the wallet during that window, the wallet status will change back to active, and no fee will be charged. If no action is taken, the fee will be taken from the existing wallet balance.
The deduction rules are also limited by the available balance. If the wallet has less than ₹100, PhonePe will debit the full remaining balance, bringing the balance to zero. The company says the wallet balance will not go negative. This makes the charge a balance-based deduction rather than a penalty that pushes the account into the negative.
How users can avoid the Rs 100 quarterly charge
The simplest way to avoid the fee is to complete at least one financial transaction through the PhonePe Wallet within 365 days. That transaction is what counts as wallet activity under the revised terms. Users who primarily rely on UPI payments outside the wallet should check whether their wallet balance has been idle for an extended period.
For users who receive a notice, the 15-day grace period becomes important. A single wallet transaction during that time is enough to reactivate the account and stop the fee from being applied. Users who do not want the wallet to become inactive may need to make occasional wallet-based payments rather than relying solely on other PhonePe services.
PhonePe’s updated rule follows a broader trend in digital payments, in which fintech platforms have introduced maintenance charges for dormant accounts. For users, the immediate takeaway is simple: if the wallet is not being used, it may slowly lose balance through inactivity fees unless a qualifying transaction is made in time.
