UPI’s free ride faces a new test as India weighs merchant charges for sustainability
The Unified Payments Interface has spent its first decade making digital payments almost invisible — a scan, a tap and the money moves. In the second decade, India’s most ubiquitous digital payments system faces a problem its success created: how to keep UPI growing at breakneck speed without making its economics unsustainable.
The zero-MDR regime that helped turn UPI into a mass-market phenomenon is under scrutiny as policymakers weigh whether selected merchant transactions should carry a charge, while keeping UPI free for person-to-person (P2P) transactions.
