UPI News: Charges will be levied on payments above ₹2000, Supreme Court refuses to stay for now

New Delhi. The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a petition challenging the central government's decision to impose a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions exceeding ₹2,000. However, the court declined to immediately stay the implementation of this framework.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notices to the Central government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and the UPI & Services Steering Committee, seeking their response within four weeks.

What is the challenge in the petition?

The petition has been filed by Advocate Anjan Dutta through Advocate Ashutosh Dubey. It challenges the Central Government's Gazette Notification dated September 14, 2026, issued under Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

Apart from this, the framework announced on September 15, which proposes to levy MDR on select person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions of more than ₹2000, has also been challenged.

The rule will come into effect from October 15

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) N. Venkataraman, representing the central government, stated that these charges will be effective from October 15th and that 96 percent of transactions will be exempt. The central law officer also stated that the charge limit for essential services has been set at ₹5.