📷 Image: Wikimedia Commons / Yann Forget
Business
Madhya Pradesh Traders Hold 'No UPI Day' to Protest 0.4% MDR Charge
✍️ India Today
🗓 23 Sep 2026, 09:46 PM
👁 8
Traders across Madhya Pradesh observed a one‑day boycott of UPI payments to protest the newly announced 0.4% merchant discount rate levy.
Traders in several towns of Madhya Pradesh collectively decided to refrain from using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) for a day, branding the event as "No UPI Day". The move was aimed at drawing attention to the 0.4% merchant discount rate (MDR) levy that the Reserve Bank of India recently introduced for digital transactions.
Shop owners displayed notices at their premises urging customers to pay in cash or through alternative methods, and many posted the protest on social media platforms. They argue that the additional charge will erode thin profit margins, especially for small and medium‑sized enterprises that rely heavily on low‑cost digital payments.
The RBI has defended the levy as a measure to offset the cost of maintaining the digital payments infrastructure, but the traders' coordinated boycott highlights growing discontent among the merchant community over the financial burden of the new rule.
No official response from the central bank or the Ministry of Finance had been recorded at the time of reporting.
Shop owners displayed notices at their premises urging customers to pay in cash or through alternative methods, and many posted the protest on social media platforms. They argue that the additional charge will erode thin profit margins, especially for small and medium‑sized enterprises that rely heavily on low‑cost digital payments.
The RBI has defended the levy as a measure to offset the cost of maintaining the digital payments infrastructure, but the traders' coordinated boycott highlights growing discontent among the merchant community over the financial burden of the new rule.
No official response from the central bank or the Ministry of Finance had been recorded at the time of reporting.