Summary of this article
Mobile retailers plan nationwide protest against 0.4 per cent UPI MDR charges.
AIMRA will observe October 2 as No UPI Day nationwide.
New MDR applies to eligible merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000.
A 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) will apply to specified merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 from October 15, 2026, changing the cost structure for eligible digital payments. Following the move, mobile retailers across India are planning a nationwide protest on October 2.
The All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), a mobile retailers industry body has called October 2 as No UPI Day, with participating retailers planning to stop accepting UPI payments and mark the protest by covering their UPI QR codes with black cloth.
Why Are Mobile Retailers Protesting?
AIMRA estimates that the MDR could result in a monthly impact of Rs 2,000 to Rs 12,000 for a small retailer processing Rs 5 lakh to Rs 30 lakh through UPI each month. The association has also estimated the combined impact on small mobile retailers at around Rs 40 crore per month, or nearly Rs 500 crore annually.
According to a PTI report, AIMRA Vice President and President for the Delhi-NCR region, Tarvinder Singh said the protest was aimed at highlighting the financial burden on merchants accepting digital payments. “Our clear demand is that UPI merchant payments should continue under a Zero MDR structure,” he said.
Singh said the protest was not against UPI or Digital India, but was focused on the additional cost for merchants accepting digital payments.
What Is The New UPI MDR?
Under the new framework, the 0.4 per cent MDR will apply to person-to-merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000. Person-to-person UPI payments will remain free, while merchant payments up to Rs 2,000 will also continue without MDR.
Small merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh per month through UPI QR codes under the person-to-person-merchant category will also continue to receive zero-MDR treatment, according to the government's framework.
The government has said MDR is a charge within the payment ecosystem and is not a tax or a fee collected by the government or NPCI. The amount will be distributed among participating payment ecosystem entities. The protest is scheduled ahead of the new MDR framework coming into effect on October 15, with AIMRA seeking continuation of zero MDR for eligible merchant UPI payments.
