Happy Thursday!
The government is mulling restoring MDR on UPI transactions for large merchants.
This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in the letter:■ Ather Energy launches QIP■ Groww’s Q1 profit jumps■ TCS’ new deal winExclusive: Govt may bring back UPI merchant fee for big businesses 132427598India could restore the merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions for large merchants, addressing a long-standing pain point for the online payments industry, three people aware of the matter told us.“There have been multiple industry representations on bringing back MDR in view of the large and growing volume of digital transactions… It is being actively examined,” one of them said.Driving the news:The proposal under examination may peg the turnover threshold for merchants at Rs 1-1.5 crore and Rs 2,000 for transactions, sparing small merchants.
A final call will be made shortly at the highest level of government.Peer-to-peer transfers are expected to stay free. 132427612Catch up quick: MDR, the fee merchants pay banks and payment firms for processing transactions, has been zero on UPI and RuPay debit cards since January 2020.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance made a strong case in March for bringing it back.Why it matters: Zero MDR has left the sector without a viable core business model.
