New Delhi, Aug. 8 -- Amid widespread discussion about transaction fees and merchant charges, the government on Saturday clarified that UPI will remain free for consumers and that small merchants will not incur charges for accepting digital payments. In fact, the MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) charges will be applicable for a few sets of merchant transactions

"As and when MDR charges are introduced, they will apply only to a limited set of merchant transactions above a certain threshold, at a nominal rate far lower than debit or credit card MDRs," the government said in a release

The vast majority of the transactions will remain free of charge for merchants on UPI. MDR, if introduced, will be threshold-based and not levied blanketly on all...