Payments Council of India confirms RuPay free, UPI MDR applies
Good news: using your RuPay debit card is still totally free, as the Payments Council of India just confirmed there will not be any extra charges (MDR) for these transactions.
But starting October 15, if you use UPI to pay a merchant and the amount is over ₹2,000, an MDR of up to 0.4%, capped at ₹300, may apply on the merchant/acquiring side.
This only applies to certain person-to-merchant payments.
New UPI fees could raise ₹15,000cr
The idea is to help keep digital payments growing and cover losses from years of zero-fee policies.
Even with this change, about 95% of UPI transactions will stay free.
The new fees could bring in around ₹15,000 crore, which banks and payment companies will share, and about ₹700 crore each year will go toward helping small shops accept digital payments and improving payment tech where it is needed most.