Zero MDR on RuPay, UPI to kill digital payments industry

Slamming Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement that digital transactions made using RuPay credit cards or UPI QR codes will not face Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) from January 1, the Payments Council of India (PCI) on Monday said the move would kill the industry and make the business model unviable. According to Vishwas Patel, Chairman of Payments Council of India, the move will have a significant negative impact on the payment ecosystem, innovation and will lead to job losses and slowdown in the expansion of digital payments in India.