UPI's New Merchant Fee: What the 0.4% MDR Framework Changes From October 15

What is preserved

The source documents returned at the capture time have been retained privately (HTML, readable text or PDF). This is a webpage capture, not a complete copy of the publisher’s media or a platform export.

UPI is no longer free for merchants. Where will the new MDR money actually go?

Firstpost · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:41 am · text/html

SHA-256: f6868cf77d7c7667944e77dfc93893a3335bfa45d69133a8e46051b816de900a

Press Release: Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:41 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 74476e3c51b05c65b5c55def47c9c15b41a042967169fefbb899fee874255f7a

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:41 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 253d89a98540bd056e328d4583a8226a94cda0b74582b3bb83fa7e5400873586

UPI is no longer free for all as conditions apply | Mint

livemint.com · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:41 am · text/html;charset=UTF-8

SHA-256: fb2dc7f7403c19c75dfc11876b56dd984987e61a74b992ba84440f0d3a18c3cf

होम पेज:पत्र सूचना कार्यालय

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:42 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 20196ddb298cba31fb85525a0f21f1883512c8363d3192141013dffc6fc10d44

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:42 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 74a83b6fe7f2fc76df5a2eeedf88fcb26816e927bf528e7f531b78d01ecd593a

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:42 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: cd4306d96747d9a0e42316624134c80b945e0337e71f44d9867dc03b6002db05

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:42 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 2d20b33547fd79afc1ab95e8eb38212f14d1b57249727232a7cb2d20c4aae3ef

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:43 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: 7c2e514fa62c024d38fa0a24ce8c4cc82babc0450d3ac47daea74a87aa18c90e

Press Release Page | Press Information Bureau

Press Information Bureau · Original source ↗

Captured 17/9/2026, 12:38:43 am · text/html; charset=utf-8

SHA-256: c50c7f315a38d6a35caecca917b0da1b0f7739796260b2a4502857a77fb49a0a

Capture integrity

SHA-256: f6868cf77d7c7667944e77dfc93893a3335bfa45d69133a8e46051b816de900a

A matching hash confirms that captured bytes have not changed. It does not establish that the publisher’s claims are true or that the page had this content before the capture date.

Limits of this record

Research coverage: the captured material on this story is dominated by Ministry of Finance press releases distributed via PIB, including translated duplicates, plus one Mint report and one Firstpost report. No independent audit, regulator filing or merchant-group response specific to this framework was captured, and the capture log itself flags that some candidate sources were inaccessible or outside supported domains.

The discovery title asks where the new MDR money will go. The captured sources address allocation at the level of ecosystem participants (banks, payment service providers and app providers) and a 5% contribution to a small-merchant fund, but no captured source provides a verified breakdown of actual rupee flows, so the question cannot be fully answered from this evidence.

No evidence of disagreement among the captured sources was found; this absence does not establish consensus, only that no conflicting account appears in this material.

Figures such as the ~96%/4% share of merchant transactions, the 0.4% rate, the Rs 300 cap and the 5% fund allocation are attributed to PIB and NPCI statements and to publisher reporting; they reflect announced plans and institutional statements, not observed billing outcomes.

The UPI transaction volume and value for August (about 24 billion transactions, about $311 billion) comes from a Firstpost report that attributes the number to Reuters; the underlying Reuters dataset was not captured and could not be checked.

PIB distributes the same release in multiple languages; these are not independent corroboration of the release's contents.

The framework is described as taking effect from October 15, 2026. The captured material predates that date, so implementation effects and merchant behaviour after the effective date are outside the evidence.

Some candidate sources were inaccessible or outside the supported research domains; consult the capture log.

The original file is retained for editorial reference. Reproduction rights have not been established, so the raw capture is not publicly redistributed.