Traders call off No UPI Day, MDR still starts 15 Oct
The 2 October No UPI Day protest was withdrawn after more than 20 trade associations met the finance minister. Nothing was conceded, and the 0.4 per cent MDR still commences on 15 October.
- The protest is off and nothing changed. Inc42 reported on 1 October 2026 that AIMRA and AICPDF withdrew the 2 October No UPI Day call after a delegation of trade bodies met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Inc42 quotes CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal saying the minister assured that all issues would be considered with utmost seriousness. An assurance is not a concession, and the 15 October commencement stands.
- Three demands went in and none is reported as granted: deferment ahead of the festive season, merchant-to-merchant transactions kept outside the regime, and the monthly receipt exemption raised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Inc42 attributes the first two to Economic Times reporting rather than to the meeting itself.
- The exemption is described as a monthly receipt limit, currently Rs 1 lakh. That figure decides whether a small seller is inside the regime at all. Inc42 does not define what counts toward the limit, so do not assume it captures only UPI collections. Confirm the base with your acquirer.
- The merchant-to-merchant ask is the one with balance sheet consequence. Traders asked for supplier side transactions to be excluded and the source records no exclusion. On that reading a brand paying a vendor by UPI above Rs 2,000 is exposed, not only one collecting from customers. Inc42 does not state that these transactions are inside the regime either, only that exclusion was sought, which is why you get the answer in writing.
The No UPI Day protest called for 2 October is off. Inc42 reported on 1 October 2026 that the All India Mobile Retailers Association and the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation withdrew it after representatives of 20 trade associations met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The delegation was led by Praveen Khandelwal, who is both secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders and a BJP member of Parliament from Chandni Chowk.
Read what was actually obtained. Inc42 quotes Khandelwal saying the finance minister assured that all issues would be considered with utmost seriousness, and that the call was withdrawn accordingly. That is the whole of it. No rate change, no deferral, no carve out. Even the assurance reaches the record through the trader side rather than a government statement. The 0.4 per cent MDR on specified person to merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300 from Rs 75,000 upward, still commences on 15 October.
Three demands went in. Deferment ahead of the festive season. Merchant to merchant transactions kept outside the regime. The monthly receipt exemption lifted from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Inc42 sources the first two to Economic Times and reports none of them as conceded.
Two of those change an operator’s own numbers. The exemption is a monthly receipt limit, so whether a small seller is in scope turns entirely on that figure, and the source does not define what counts toward it. The supplier side ask is larger. If merchant to merchant payments are not excluded, a brand paying a vendor above Rs 2,000 carries the cost as well as the brand collecting from shoppers. Settle it with your acquirer in writing and fold the answer into supplier payment terms and your payment gateway selection.
Timing is the sting, and the source is explicit that deferment was sought ahead of the festive season and heightened business activity. 15 October sits inside that window, not before it. Two further things worth holding. Inc42 notes the Supreme Court has declined to stay the framework for now while seeking responses from the Centre, the RBI and NPCI. And in August the Confederation of All India Traders was on record backing a nominal MDR on higher value UPI payments. The fight now is over rate, timing and scope, not principle. Plan for 15 October.
Zane’s analysis draws on original reporting by Inc42. Read the original report.