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UPI and RuPay Card Charge: The government is considering re -implementing the merchant charge on UPI transaction and Rupay debit cards. The Economic Times has given this information quoting two senior bank officials as saying.

Currently, no merchant discount rate (MDR) is applied to these payment methods, as they are operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). However, discussions are underway to impose fees on big traders keeping transactions free for small businesses.

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Why is the government in the mood to levy fees? (UPI and RuPay Card Charge)

A bank official said that the banks have submitted a formal proposal to the government, which suggests that MDR should be applied to traders whose annual GST turnover is more than Rs 40 lakh.

The government is also planning to introduce a level pricing system. Under this system, big traders will have to pay more and small traders.

A banker said, “If big traders, who have card machines, are paying the Visa and MasterCard debit cards and MDR on all types of credit cards, then why can't they fees UPI and Rupay Debit Card?”

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How does MDR work and why was it removed? (UPI and RuPay Card Charge)

Prior to 2022, traders had to pay less than 1% of the transaction amount as MDR (merchant discount rate). However, the government removed these fees in the FY22 budget to promote digital payments.

Since then, UPI has become the most commonly used payment method and the popularity of Rupay debit card has also increased.

Meanwhile, industry experts say that large retail traders make an average of more than 50% of the payment cards. Therefore, a small fee is unlikely to have any major impact on UPI payment.

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1,611 crore UPI transactions took place in February (UPI and RuPay Card Charge)

1,611 crore transactions were done through Unified Payment Interface (UPI), out of which a total of Rs 21.96 lakh crore was transferred. On an annual basis, the number of transactions has increased by 33% and the transferred amount by 20%.

In February 2024, there was a transaction of Rs 18.28 lakh crore through 1,210 crore transactions.

39 lakh transactions in early March (UPI and RuPay Card Charge)

By 3 March 2025, about 39 lakh UPI transactions took place, through which Rs 1,050 crore was transferred.

5% less transaction in February than January (UPI and RuPay Card Charge)

In January 2025, Rs 23.48 lakh crore was transferred through 1,699 crore transactions. The number of transactions declined by 5% in February compared to January.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) regulates UPI.

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