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 on UPI transactions, according to a senior official of the All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA).
The government has introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on UPI transfers to merchants exceeding Rs 2,000, effective October 15. Person-to-person transactions and small payments remain exempt.
AIMRA’s Delhi NCR president said in a statement that retailers will symbolically cover UPI QR codes with black cloth and refrain from accepting UPI payments on Gandhi Jayanti.
In a representation sent to the Finance Minister, the association argued that the MDR would cause 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 a month through UPI, wiping out a substantial portion of their net income. The body estimates the charge would impose an unsustainable burden of roughly Rs 40 crore per month, and nearly Rs 500 crore a year, on small mobile retailers nationwide.
The association stressed that the protest is not against UPI or Digital India. Its concern is the additional financial burden on merchants who accept digital payments. It argued that if Digital India is to keep growing, digital payments must remain affordable for the entire retail ecosystem, and demanded that UPI merchant payments continue under a zero MDR structure.
The protest adds to growing resistance to the charge, with trader groups and opposition parties having already criticised the move since it was announced.
(Source: The Hindu)
