A Parliamentary panel has called for the early rollout of a calibrated Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on high-value digital transactions. According to the panel the framework is essential to make the payments ecosystem financially viable and reduce the government's subsidy burden.

The government has recently proposed levying a nominal merchant discount rate (MDR) on a limited set of UPI merchant transactions above a certain threshold

Six years of zero MDR delivered unprecedented digital payments at the price of underinvestment, rising fraud risk, and market concentration.