The National Payments Corporation of India, which runs the country’s UPI payments network, postponed the October 15 start of a 0.4% merchant fee on UPI payments above ₹2,000 (about $21) and said the fee will now begin after Diwali to stay clear of the holiday shopping rush, without naming a date. NPCI planned to share the fee, the first charge merchants would pay since UPI went free in 2020, among banks and payment apps like Google Pay and PhonePe to cover UPI’s running costs, which industry estimates put at about ₹200 billion ($2.1 billion) a year. Retailers and fuel station owners had pushed back hard, and some said they would stop accepting UPI payments rather than pay the charge.
