UPI

LocalCircles estimates UPI transaction volumes could fall 4% and value 10% as consumers shift to cards, cash and bank transfers if merchants pass on the MDR

Clocks highest daily avg volume of over 800 mn transactions

October brings five financial changes that could affect consumers and businesses differently. LPG consumers need biometric Aadhaar authentication to access subsidised refills. Some SBI customers will

UPI processed an average 802 million transactions a day in September, up about 1 per cent from August, while transaction value also remained firm despite the MDR backlash

AICPDF and AIMRA have withdrawn from the October 2 protest after urging the government to defer the proposed UPI MDR and raise the threshold limit to ₹5 lakh

Finance minister discusses Qatar's $10 billion investment commitment, proposed BIT and FTA talks, while seeking wider adoption of India's UPI payment system

Investable household assets rose to nearly $5.2 trillion in FY25, while individual investors' share of the Indian equity market reached a two-decade high of 18.7%

18% GST on merchant discount rate could be reviewed

The core banking and card processing platform is exploring credit line on UPI and other use cases as India becomes one of its priority markets for FY27

Justice Bagchi asked whether the charge was a tax or fee and, if it was neither, what was the legal basis for imposing it. He also questioned the nature of the service for which the payment was being

The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain the basis for UPI charges above ₹2,000, but refused to stay the new framework set to take effect from October 15

Mobile phone retailers across India plan to observe October 2 as "No UPI Day" in protest against 0.4 per cent merchant discount rate charges on UPI transactions, a senior official of industry body AIMRA said. The government has introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on UPI transfers exceeding Rs 2,000 to merchants from October 15, while exempting person-to-person transactions as well as small payments from any charges. "The All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) has called for a 'NO UPI DAY' on October 2, 2026, to highlight the concerns of mobile retailers regarding the 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) applicable to eligible merchant UPI transactions," AIMRA Vice President and President for Delhi NCR region, Tarvinder Singh, said in a statement. He said retailers will symbolically cover UPI QR Codes with black cloth and refrain from accepting UPI payments on Gandhi Jayanti. According to a representation sent to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman by AIMRA, the move to impos

The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a plea challenging the Centre's decision to impose a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on specified UPI person-to-merchant transactions of over Rs 2,000. Ending nearly six years of fully free UPI payments, the government has introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on transfers worth over Rs 2,000 made to merchants through the UPI platform from October 15 while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions and small payments from any charge. The MDR will be capped at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 and above. Essential and thin-margin sectors -- railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agricultural inputs -- will pay a flat MDR of Rs 5 per transaction above Rs 2,000. Payments into mutual funds, securities and through stockbrokers and dealers will attract 0.02 per cent MDR, also capped at Rs 300. Person-to-person (P2P) transfers -- which make up 37 per cent of UPI's transaction volume and 70 per cent of its transaction value -- will continue to

According to NPCI MD and CEO Dilip Asbe, around three-fourths of India’s more than 60 million digital payment-accepting merchants have never recorded a transaction above ₹2,000 and are insulated from

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rejected as "absolutely baseless" allegations by the Opposition that the decision to levy a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on specified UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 was taken under external pressure, saying it was a professional decision by the payment ecosystem. Talking to PTI, Sitharaman said the decision was completely professional, and it was taken jointly by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), payment banks and merchant banks, and not imposed by the government. She rubbished the Opposition's allegations that the government had yielded to foreign pressure, saying the MDR was not a tax and would not accrue to the government. "Absolutely baseless. And I totally deny it," she said when asked about Opposition allegations that the decision on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) MDR was taken under external pressure, particularly from the US. The Finance Minister said the Opposition was "searching for issues" and makin

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the charge on specified merchant transactions above ₹2,000 will be borne within the payments ecosystem, while UPI payments by customers will remain free

Mospi Secretary Saurabh Garg said data should flow freely across ministries and states, while AI-generated inferences must remain grounded in verified and validated sources

UPI's costs could be shared more widely without distorting the incentives to use digital payments

Proposed UPI MDR will give remitter banks the largest revenue share, while private banks dominate the merchant-side transactions

Today's Best of BS Opinion weighs UPI's funding model, freight corridor gains, India's AI strategy, Delhi's student housing crisis and J S Deepak's memoir