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NPCI has postponed the planned Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI payments until after Diwali, with the replacement date still unannounced. Separately, the Government of India has approved the first cohort for its ₹1 lakh crore Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund: 19 fund managers and research organisations with a combined commitment of ₹7,131 crore.
UPI MDR rollout moves beyond Diwali
NPCI’s UPI and Services Steering Committee deferred implementation of MDR on select P2M UPI transactions on October 13, 2026. The change had been scheduled to begin on October 15. NPCI said the new date would be notified separately and would fall immediately after Diwali.
“UPI and Services Steering Committee today decided that, keeping in mind the festive season, Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select Person-to-Merchant (P2M) UPI transactions, shall be implemented immediately post Diwali at a date to be notified separately.”
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The decision is a postponement, not a cancellation. Until NPCI issues another notice, merchants, banks and payment companies do not have a confirmed effective date for the proposed charge.
What the reported proposal covers
The Economic Times reported that the proposal would apply a 0.4% MDR to select eligible merchant transactions above ₹2,000. The threshold does not mean every UPI payment above ₹2,000 would automatically be charged: the proposal concerns selected merchant categories and conditions.
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The same report estimated that more than 95% of UPI merchant transactions by volume would remain free. That percentage and the 0.4% rate are contemporaneous media reporting rather than independently published NPCI tariff statistics in the material available for this announcement.
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Why merchants are watching the date
MDR is a merchant-side fee paid to the bank or payment company handling an eligible transaction. A final policy could therefore affect the economics of accepting certain high-value UPI payments for merchants and the revenue model of payment providers. The announcement does not establish whether consumers would face any surcharge, nor does it settle how costs would be allocated in practice.
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RDI Fund names 19 first-cohort managers
The Empowered Group of Secretaries approved the first RDI Fund cohort at its October 8, 2026 meeting. The cohort contains 19 Second Level Fund Managers (SLFMs): 14 alternative investment funds (AIFs) and five focused research organisations (FROs). The Government of India’s aggregate commitment is ₹7,131 crore.
| RDI Fund detail | What has been announced |
|---|---|
| Overall scheme | ₹1 lakh crore corpus, launched in November 2025 |
| First cohort | 19 SLFMs approved on October 8, 2026 |
| Composition | 14 AIFs and five FROs |
| Aggregate commitment | ₹7,131 crore |
| Technology eligibility | Research, development and innovation at TRL 4 or above |
| Private-capital expectation | Selected managers are expected to mobilise private capital equivalent to the RDI contribution |
The ₹7,131 crore figure is a cohort-level commitment. The official announcement does not publish each manager’s allocation or state that the entire amount has already been disbursed.
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Which organisations are in the cohort?
The AIF group includes familiar Indian venture investors such as Chiratae Ventures, Blume Ventures, Kalaari Capital, Speciale Invest, YourNest, IvyCap, Ideaspring and TVS Capital, alongside other selected managers.
The five FROs are:
- AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) at IISc Bengaluru
- Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP)
- IIT Madras Research Park
- Pilani Innovation & Entrepreneurship Development Society (PIEDS) at BITS Pilani
- Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay
How the two-level funding channel works
The RDI Fund is structured as a two-layer channel rather than a direct grant to every startup, university or laboratory. The government backs selected SLFMs; those managers then route capital to eligible technology enterprises carrying out RDI at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4 or higher.
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TRL 4 generally marks technology that has reached validation in a laboratory environment, so the stated threshold is aimed beyond basic, unvalidated research. The managers are also expected to mobilise private capital equivalent to the RDI contribution, potentially expanding the amount available to qualifying projects. The government says additional cohorts will be invited in the near future.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What readers should take away
- UPI MDR implementation originally targeted October 15, 2026, but NPCI has moved it to a date immediately after Diwali that has not yet been announced.
- The reported proposal is 0.4% on select eligible merchant transactions above ₹2,000, while The Economic Times estimates that over 95% of merchant transactions by volume would remain free.
- The RDI Fund’s first cohort has 19 managers—14 AIFs and five FROs—with a ₹7,131 crore aggregate commitment.
- The broader RDI scheme has a ₹1 lakh crore corpus and is intended to finance eligible RDI at TRL 4 or above while drawing matching private capital through selected managers.
These are separate policy developments: the UPI announcement concerns the timing and scope of a payment fee, while the RDI announcement establishes a funding channel for more mature technology development.
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