Pine Labs, Paytm, MobiKwik Shares Slide Amid Reports Of UPI MDR Delay

Fintech firms Paytm, Pine Labs, and MobiKwik experienced a decline in their stock prices following reports of a potential delay in the merchant discount rate (MDR) for certain UPI transactions. Paytm's share price plummeted by up to 10%, reaching ₹1,560.60 each on the BSE, while it was trading 5.21% lower at ₹1,643 apiece as of 13:30 PM IST.

Pine Labs saw a 4.3% decrease, settling at ₹169.90 per share with a market cap of ₹19,619.18 Cr ($2 Bn), and MobiKwik faced a 5.7% drop, closing at ₹241.25 per share with a market capitalization of ₹1,899.7 Cr ($196.3 Mn). The setback follows reports that the implementation of MDR on selected UPI transactions could be postponed from October 15 to January 1, 2027.

A Business Standard report indicates that a proposal to delay the MDR rollout is under consideration, with a final decision anticipated in the coming days. If approved, the delay would safeguard eligible merchant UPI payments from MDR throughout the holiday season. The UPI and Services Steering Committee, led by NPCI, convened on Wednesday to deliberate on the proposed rollout and other aspects of the framework.

The committee is also mulling over raising the exemption threshold to businesses with an annual turnover of up to ₹40 Lakh. In the earlier proposal, merchants receiving up to ₹1 Lakh per month via UPI QR codes directly into their bank accounts were exempt from the fee. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra stated on Wednesday that a minor fee in the form of MDR is unlikely to significantly impact UPI transaction volumes, as of now, there is no observed drop in volumes, and he personally does not believe that a small fee will have a major impact on volumes.

UPI transactions continued to soar, with the platform processing 24.07 billion transactions worth ₹29.37 trillion in September, a 22.6% YoY increase in volume and an 18% YoY rise in value.