Mobile retailers to shun UPI on Oct 2

New Delhi: Mobile phone retailers across India plan to observe October 2 as “No UPI Day” in protest against the 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on eligible UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, an industry body said.

The government has introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on UPI transfers above Rs 2,000 to merchants from October 15, while exempting person-to-person transactions and small payments from charges.

The All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA) has called for the protest to highlight concerns over the additional cost to retailers. AIMRA Vice-President and Delhi-NCR President Tarvinder Singh said retailers would symbolically cover UPI QR codes with black cloth and refrain from accepting UPI payments on Gandhi Jayanti.

According to a representation sent to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, AIMRA said the MDR would result in an immediate net monthly loss 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 estimates that the 0.4 per cent MDR could impose a burden of around Rs 40 crore per month, or nearly Rs 500 crore annually, on small mobile retailers across India.

“If we want Digital India, UPI must remain zero MDR,” Singh said, adding that the protest was not against UPI or Digital India but against the additional financial burden on merchants.