Government weighs return of merchant fees on UPI, RuPay transactions: What it may mean for users

The government is considering bringing back merchant charges on UPI and RuPay debit card payments, Economic Times reported, citing two senior bankers. Currently, businesses do not pay any fees when customers use UPI or RuPay debit cards. Before 2022, merchants had to pay a small fee, called the merchant discount rate (MDR), to banks for processing such transactions.If the government brings back MDR charges on UPI and RuPay debit card payments, it won’t directly affect users as they won’t be charged a fee for making payments

Proposal to reintroduce MDR for large merchants