Guwahati, Aug. 9 -- The Centre has indicated that it may introduce a nominal Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on a limited category of UPI merchant transactions above a specified threshold, while maintaining that payments between individuals and the vast majority of UPI transactions will continue to remain free.

The Ministry of Finance said on Saturday that any MDR introduced in the future would not apply universally to merchant transactions. Instead, charges would be restricted to selected transactions above a certain value and would be significantly lower than the MDR currently applicable to debit and credit card payments.

The ministry said the proposed framework would ensure that most UPI transactions remain free for merchants. Any charg...