Manish Agarwal

Few allegations are in the media that the MDR has been introduced because of external pressure. They are giving reference to US Trade Representative (USTR) report of 2026. The USTR report has raised the following two issues: (i) Inability of US electronic payment services suppliers to participate in the UPI ecosystem, including credit transactions on UPI, on a level playing field with RuPay. ✅ Reality: The NPCI circular of 15.9.2026 does not allow credit transactions of UPI by any other credit card other than RuPay credit card. There is a clear policy of only allowing RuPay credit card on UPI to enable RuPay credit card to become the preferred choice of credit card amongst users in India. (ii) NPCI market-share limitation of 30 per cent for third-party application providers (announced November 2020; enforcement date December 2026) ✅ Reality: Although, NPCI had mandated market share limitation of 30 per cent for third-party application providers in November 2020, however, this mandate could not be implemented because companies other than the market leaders could not compete in absence of self-sustaining revenue model. Introduction of MDR on select high-value transactions will provide a self-sustaining revenue model to smaller companies to compete for higher share in the UPI ecosystem. Thus introduction of MDR has been done with the intention of allowing more domestic companies to expand their operations. 2.Contrary to misleading claims made that MDR has been introduced under external pressure, introduction of MDR on select high-value transactions will enable more domestic companies to operate under UPI. Thus, the action of introduction of MDR is a step in protecting India’s sovereignty in Electronic payment ecosystem. 3.Government of India has promoted RuPay credit and debit cards to show that people have a strong domestic alternative. In order that the RuPay credit cards continue to grow, the debit card has been kept free of MDR. The allegation that MDR has been introduced under any external influence is patently false and misleading. #UPI