No US pressure on UPI MDR decision; foreign cards get no advantage, says FinMin, clarifies Finance Ministry

The Finance Ministry on Thursday rejected allegations that US pressure influenced the decision to levy a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select UPI transactions, saying the latest NPCI guidelines offer no advantage to foreign credit cards over RuPay.

The Department of Financial Services (DFS) issued the clarification in response to observations in the US Trade Representative’s (USTR) 2026 report on the inability of US electronic payment service providers to participate in the UPI ecosystem, including credit transactions, on a level playing field with RuPay.