Fee on UPI pay confirmed in talks with govt NPCI says RBIs Murmu

The Merchant Discount Rate on Unified Payments Interface transactions will definitely come into effect, RBI Deputy Governor Shirish Chandra Murmu stated on Wednesday. The National Payments Corporation of India will make the announcement regarding the quantum of fees to be levied on merchants, Murmu stated at a CNBC-TV18 banking summit in Mumbai.  

"I will not hazard a guess, but it will come definitely now that what we hear," Murmu stated when asked about details on the rollout of the Merchant Discount Rate. "The government, RBI, and NPCI have been discussing [on the matter]," the deputy governor stated, adding that finer details on its implementation "have to be worked out".

The Merchant Discount Rate, popularly called MDR, is a fee a merchant pays to a bank for processing digital payments through credit cards, debit cards, or unified payment interfaces. The government made such payments free from January 2020 to boost digital adoption. Earlier this month, Parliament passed a bill allowing the government to restore the MDR on digital transactions.         

-Informist