{
  "id": 8015320,
  "title": "Centre Rejects External Pressure Claims Over UPI MDR Rollout",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/centre-rejects-external-pressure-claims-over-upi-mdr-rollout",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-17T10:37:57.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Inc42",
    "slug": "inc42",
    "url": "https://inc42.com/buzz/centre-rejects-external-pressure-claims-over-upi-mdr-rollout/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Department of Financial Services (DFS) of India's finance ministry has dismissed allegations of external pressure influencing the introduction of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on selected UPI transactions. The DFS clarified that the move was not driven by pressure from external entities. The Department highlighted two concerns raised in the US Trade Representative's (USTR) 2026 National Trade Estimate Report. The first concern addressed the exclusion of US payment service providers from UPI ecosystem, including credit card transactions, on equal terms with RuPay. The DFS assured that credit card transactions on UPI continue to be permitted only through RuPay credit cards, as per a September 15 circular by NPCI. The second concern is the proposed 30% market share cap for third-party application providers (TPAPs) by NPCI. The DFS explained that NPCI introduced this cap in November 2020 but could not enforce it due to smaller payment apps lacking a sustainable revenue model. The government introduced MDR on high-value UPI transactions to create a revenue stream for these players and encourage domestic companies to expand their operations. The DFS emphasized that the policy aims to protect India's sovereignty in the electronic payments ecosystem and protect RuPay credit and debit cards as domestic alternatives to global card networks. They reiterated that the allegation of external influence in introducing MDR is false and misleading.",
  "summary": "Amid the ongoing debate over the introduction of MDR on select UPI transactions, the finance ministry’s Department of Financial Services…",
  "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."
}