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India’s proposed merchant discount rate (MDR) on select UPI merchant transactions will start after Diwali, not on its previously scheduled October 15 date; NPCI said the new date would be notified separately. Separately, the government approved 19 fund managers for the first cohort of its Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund, committing ₹7,131 crore to the cohort. Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital Partners India and Blume Ventures are among the managers named.
UPI MDR: What changed and when does it start?
On October 13, 2026, NPCI’s UPI and Services Steering Committee deferred the planned MDR on select person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions. It had been scheduled to begin October 15. NPCI cited the festive season and said implementation would take place “immediately post Diwali” on a date to be notified separately. No precise start date was given in the announcement.
The decision changes the timing, not the reported fee structure. Moneycontrol reproduced NPCI’s statement: “UPI and Services Steering Committee today decided that, keeping in mind the festive season, MDR on select Person-to-Merchant (P2M) UPI transactions shall be implemented immediately post Diwali on a date to be notified separately.” Moneycontrol’s October 13 report and Business Standard’s same-day report both describe the deferral. Earlier speculation about a January 2027 start should not be treated as confirmed: NPCI’s stated position is that the date will be notified separately.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Which UPI transactions would face the proposed MDR?
MDR is a fee paid by a merchant to the bank and payment company processing a digital transaction. The reported proposal concerns eligible bank-account-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000, rather than every UPI payment. Reported implementation details are subject to updated NPCI guidance, including confirmation of which categories qualify.
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| Reported transaction or rule | Proposed MDR |
|---|---|
| Eligible bank-account-to-merchant UPI transaction above ₹2,000 | 0.40% (40 basis points), capped at ₹300 per transaction |
| Some categories, including bill payments, fuel and education | Reported flat fee of ₹5 |
| UPI payments outside the select eligible merchant transactions | Not covered by the reported proposal; confirm scope against updated NPCI guidance |
The proposed percentage works out to ₹8 on a ₹2,000 transaction and ₹40 on a ₹10,000 transaction, before applying the cap. These are examples of the proposed merchant fee, not a new charge directly billed to the customer. The Economic Times reported that more than 95% of UPI merchant transactions by volume were expected to remain free under the proposed framework; that is an attributed expectation, not an independently verified official transaction statistic. See its October 13 coverage.
RDI Fund: Who is in the first cohort?
The Government of India announced 19 Second Level Fund Managers (SLFMs) in the first cohort of the RDI Fund: 14 alternative investment funds (AIFs) and five focused research organisations (FROs). The Empowered Group of Secretaries approved the cohort at its October 8, 2026 meeting. The total commitment to this cohort is ₹7,131 crore, within the larger RDI Scheme’s ₹1 lakh crore corpus.
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Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital Partners India, Blume Ventures and Speciale Invest are among the managers named in contemporaneous reporting. The government’s October 12 announcement describes the first cohort and the scheme; Moneycontrol’s October 13 report names the firms.
How the RDI funding is intended to work
The RDI Scheme aims to channel capital to eligible technology enterprises conducting research, development and innovation at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 or above. Selected managers are expected to mobilise private capital equivalent to the RDIF contribution. The ₹7,131 crore is an approved commitment to the first cohort of managers; it is not a statement that this money has already been disbursed to the named firms or invested in startups.
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The initial cohort is not a final list. The government says applications will continue to be invited and further cohorts will be onboarded. For a technology company seeking support, the announcement establishes the scheme’s readiness threshold and manager-led structure, but does not itself set out each manager’s application process or investment terms.
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