UPI to levy 0.4% MDR on select merchant payments above ₹2,000 from Oct 15
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the new charge is an ecosystem MDR, not a tax. Small merchants and most UPI merchant transactions remain exempt, while specified larger payments will carry merchant-borne fees capped at ₹300.
What happened
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the new UPI MDR is a payments-ecosystem charge, not a government tax. Merchants will bear 0.4% MDR on specified
Key facts
- 0.4% MDR on specified merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000
- MDR capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 and above
- 40% to customer bank, 30% to payment gateways, 20% to UPI app, 10% to sponsoring bank
- Small merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh monthly via P2PM UPI QR codes retain zero MDR
- 96% of UPI merchant transactions expected to remain outside MDR
- Rs 5 flat MDR for specified essential-service transactions above Rs 2,000
- 0.02% MDR for mutual funds, securities, brokers and dealers, capped at Rs 300
Why this matters
Payments, acquiring and merchant-software companies gain a clearer incentive to pursue larger-ticket UPI flows and bundle value-added services around merchants newly subject to MDR.
What to watch
- Final notification defining 'specified' merchant categories, transaction types and exclusions.
- Clarification on whether merchants may surcharge, discount by payment method, or impose minimum transaction thresholds.
- Actual share of transaction value—not just transaction count—captured by the new MDR.
- Merchant-category exemptions for groceries, fuel, healthcare, education, government payments and small businesses.
- Acquirer and gateway pricing responses, including whether they retain part of the MDR or compete it away.
- UPI success rates, average ticket sizes and migration to cards/EMI after implementation.
- Consumer complaints, regulator enforcement and competition scrutiny of payment steering practices.
- Segment UPI transaction data by ticket size, merchant category, store format and customer cohort before October 15.
- Model margin exposure around the ₹2,000 threshold, including gateway fees, acquiring costs and potential payment-method substitution.
- Deploy compliant checkout messaging and payment-routing rules for qualifying high-ticket purchases; avoid direct MDR pass-through unless explicitly permitted.
- Renegotiate acquiring and payment-gateway contracts, especially for merchants with concentrated high-value UPI volumes.
- Use targeted card, EMI, account-to-account transfer and loyalty incentives for baskets above ₹2,000 rather than broad-based discounting.
- Prepare store staff and customer-support scripts for questions on payment-method pricing and transaction eligibility.