QRIS Tariffs For MSMEs Signal Financial Technology Resilience

Bank Indonesia's policy of setting the MDR QRIS tariff for MSME players is considered risky. (Doc. Bank Indonesia)

Digital technology is proof of the development of human civilization. Technological advances are now spreading in almost all aspects of life, including in the economic sector.

In today's era, the use of the Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard (QRIS) continues to grow. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are also starting to use the QRIS system to facilitate consumer transactions.

Quoted from the official website of Bank Indonesia, QRIS is a nationally applicable code standard for payment systems in Indonesia. Simply put, QRIS is the QR standard used by all payment system service providers in Indonesia.

QRIS makes the transaction process easier, faster, and more secure. With this facility, merchants and consumers can make non-cash transactions by scanning the QR code via smart phones.

However, BI's decision to determine the Mechantan Discount Rate (MDR) QRIS for MSME actors of 0.3 percent is enough to make noise. It is feared that this policy will hinder the expansion of non-cash transactions in the country.

BI revealed that the reason for the QRIS or MDR costs is no longer free. Especially for micro businesses, the tariff is 0.3 percent, while other transactions are 0.7 percent. For information, MDR is the cost imposed on traders or merchants by the Payment Service Provider.

The increase in MDR will take effect from July and will only be imposed for transactions above Rp. 100,000. This means that for transactions under the nominal, the MDR is known to be zero percent or free. This decision was conveyed directly by BI Governor Perry Warjiyo at a press conference of the Board of Governors' Meeting (RDG) on July 25.

"For transactions up to Rp100,000, 0 percent of the MDR is charged. Meanwhile, transactions above Rp100,000 are subject to 0.3 percent of the MDR," Perry said.

Previously, the cost of MDR QRIS was free until June 30, 2023. However, starting July 1, BI imposed an MDR rate of 0.3 percent for micro business actors. This MDR tariff is used to build infrastructure, applications, human resources, fundraising, marketing, acquisition of merchants and users, to education.

According to data from the Indonesian Payment Systems Association (ASPI) QRIS, around 28.7 million users have been used. This means that this number increased 4.6 percent compared to November 2022 (month-on-month/mom), and grew 92.5 percent compared to the beginning of last year (year-to-year/yty).

This growth is also accompanied by the increasing number of QRIS merchants. Based on ASPI records in December 2022, around 23.97 million traders served transactions through QRIS. This figure increased 5 percent on a monthly basis, and grew 58.2 percent compared to the beginning of the year. Of this amount, BI said the transaction volume reached 121.8 million with a nominal value of up to Rp12.28 trillion.

Muhammad Andri Perdana, Researcher at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), assessed that the QRIS tariff increase charged to MSME actors has the potential to have a negative impact. Andri assessed that MSME actors have two options to outsmart the existence of this MDR tariff.

The first is to charge these rates to customers even though they are not regulated. The second way is not to provide a QRIS barcode to be terminated and then ask consumers to use cash for transactions.

If traders are starting to be reluctant to use QRIS for reasons of the large discount, consumers or buyers will follow suit. Because it's useless for customers to have QRIS but it can't be used because the seller doesn't provide it.

The MDR rate of 0.3 percent is actually not significant. But what happens is that business actors have options. When he doesn't want to use QRIS because there is a cost, the customer must use cash or debit for example. It could also be that the tariff is charged to consumers even though it's actually not allowed, "explained Andri when contacted by VOI, Monday (21/8/2023).

It is feared that this new policy will slow down the adaptation of cashless in the country. In fact, BI is targeting 45 million QRIS users in 2023.

Both MSMEs and consumers are actually quite comfortable with transactions using QRIS. People are used to transactions via QRIS so that banks dare to make decisions on tariffs. With this policy, there is a possibility that the transaction rate via QRIS will slow down compared to before, "Andri added.

"The authorities should evaluate it in line with the implementation of this new policy. Will MSMEs be lazy to use QRIS, if it turns out to have a negative impact, it should be returned as before because this is for the sake of smooth non-cash transactions," Andri concluded.

The QRIS national implementation is effectively effective from January 1, 2020. The launch of QRIS is one of the implementations of the 2025 Indonesian Payment System Vision (SPI) which was announced in May 2019, as quoted from the BI website.

QRIS has a number of advantages, namely universal first. This means that the use of QRIS is inclusive for all levels of society and can be used for payment transactions at home and abroad.

Transaction using QRIS can also be done easily and safely in just one hand with a cellphone. Another advantage of transactions with QRIS is the process which is fast and instantaneous so that it supports the smoothness of the payment system.

But unfortunately, behind the convenience offered by the QRIS system, there are also risks lurking. QRIS is now often used by criminals.

The easy process of making QRIS is actually a gap for people to commit digital crimes. Fraud using QRIS became a conversation some time ago. And more unfortunate, this practice of QRIS fraud actually occurred in a number of mosques in Jakarta.

The police have named Mohammad Iman Mahlil Lubis (39) as a suspect in spreading fake QRIS codes in a number of mosques in Jakarta. The suspect attached this fake QRIS code by hitting the original code. The people's funds that should have been used for the benefit of the community actually become his personal property. From this action, the suspect got up to Rp. 13 million.

Cybercrime by utilizing digital payments has also occurred in China. In 2014, Chinese authorities suspended payments for temporary digital wallets for a long time. At that time AliPay and WeChat Pay were the main means of payment even in markets and stalls.

Because of this fake QR Code, the Chinese government temporarily stopped using WeChat Pay and Ali Pay. Things like this should be a serious concern for the government and policy makers so that they don't lead to fraud, "said cybersecurity expert and Head of the Cyber Communication & Information System Security Research Center (CISSReC), Persadha Pratama.

Using the QRIS code to carry out fraudulent actions shows that crime is growing as technology advances. Places of worship that should be a place of coolness also do not escape the target of crime.