{
  "id": 8013143,
  "title": "Centre plans daily tracking to see if merchants charge consumers for UPI fee",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/centre-plans-daily-tracking-to-see-if-merchants-charge-consumers-for",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-17T11:19:23.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Indian Express",
    "slug": "the-indian-express",
    "url": "https://indianexpress.com/article/business/upi-fee-mdr-centre-daily-tracking-merchants-charge-consumers-10882298/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Indian government plans to monitor daily whether merchants charge consumers an additional 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions exceeding Rs 2,000 starting October 15. Officials argue fully subsidising the payment system won't guarantee innovation. The government is collaborating with payment aggregators to educate merchants about how the new MDR charges function and where they'll apply. Additionally, the incentive scheme to subsidise UPI transactions under Rs 2,000 at 0.15% of the value will end on October 15. From that date, the government will compare daily figures with those from the previous year. While the MDR's impact remains to be seen, officials remain confident that UPI transaction numbers won't decline. The revised framework allows for a flat Rs 5 fee on certain goods and services, while a 0.02% fee applies to specific capital market transactions. Recurring payments like OTT subscriptions and SIP investments will remain fee-free. The government expects the revised MDR framework to generate around Rs 15,000 crore annually, which will be distributed among banks, payment service providers, and third-party applications. UPI, previously free of MDR since 2020, now incurs costs of approximately Rs 20,000 crore yearly. Industry officials estimate the new framework will be a boon for the digital payments ecosystem. Merchants, however, are concerned about passing on the extra cost to consumers, fearing price hikes and potential slowdowns in India's digital payments revolution.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}