Govt sets 0.4% fee on UPI merchant payments above Rs 2,000; caps charge at Rs 300

The government has set a 0.4% charge on UPI payments above Rs 2,000 to merchants and capped the fee at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 and above as it rolled out a framework for large digital merchant payments. The move ends the zero-MDR (merchant discount rate) regime that has been in place since January 2020, introduced to drive digital payments adoption but long criticised by banks and fintechs as unsustainable. Essential sectors like railways, telecom and fuel get a flat Rs 5 fee per transa