Two trade bodies — All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF) and All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) — on Wednesday said they would not go ahead with their planned ‘No UPI Day’ protest on October 2. The decision was taken after the trade bodies met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and aired their grievances over introduction of merchant discount rate (MDR), a fee paid by merchants for accepting Unified Payments Interface (UPI) over ₹2,000.
The delegation, led by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) secretary general Praveen Khandelwal, sought deferment of the proposed MDR until after the festive season, when business activity typically picks up.
The traders body also sought a review of the proposed ₹1 lakh threshold and an increase in the limit to ₹5 lakh. It also called for merchant-to-merchant (M2M) transactions to be kept outside the purview of MDR and sought the constitution of a committee to examine the concerns in detail and recommend a way forward.
“We remain hopeful that the issue raised will be duly considered and appropriately addressed,” the two bodies said in a statement.
Earlier, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (MCCIA), AICPDF, Akhil Bharatiya Khadya Tel Vyapari Mahasangh (All India Edible Oil Traders Federation), All India Jewellers and Goldsmith Federation, AIMRA and Federation of Retail Traders Welfare Association had declared October 2 as ‘No UPI Day’.
UPI transactions had been free of charge for the past six years. The National Payments Corporation of India has now introduced a MDR structure for select UPI payments, effective October 15.
Peer-to-peer (P2P) UPI transactions will not attract any fee, while peer-to-merchant transactions above ₹2,000 will attract a 0.40 per cent fee, capped at ₹300.
Payments to small vendors, classified as P2PM (peer-to-peer merchant), will also remain free of MDR. P2PM merchants are small vendors receiving up to ₹1 lakh a month through UPI, a category that particularly benefits businesses in rural and semi-urban areas.