UPI, which utterly revolutionised the way in which Indians pay on-line, has moved greater than Rs 1 lakh crore a day on common in October for the primary time in its historical past, after processing 25.47 billion transactions price Rs 31.53 lakh crore through the month, in keeping with information from the National Payments Corporation of India.

The figures, launched by NPCI on 1 November, broke 4 information without delay. October was the primary month by which UPI crossed 25 billion transactions, the primary by which month-to-month worth went previous Rs 30 lakh crore, and the primary by which common each day worth crossed Rs 1 lakh crore, at Rs 1,01,707 crore. Common each day transaction quantity additionally hit a document 822 million.

Apparently, these are the numbers from a full month earlier than the deliberate introduction of MDR on choose bank-account UPI service provider funds. That modifications shortly after Diwali.

Empowering your monetary transactions with simple, protected & on the spot cash transfers via UPI. Time to remain #AlwaysForward.#UPI#DigitalPayments#UPIChalega@GoI_MeitY | @_DigitalIndia | @RBI | @dilipasbe | @UPI_NPCIpic.twitter.com/Px6fDlLF3j

— NPCI (@NPCI_NPCI) November 1, 2026

“UPI and Providers Steering Committee right this moment determined that, protecting in thoughts the festive season, Service provider Low cost Price (MDR) on choose Individual-to-Service provider (P2M) UPI transactions, shall be carried out instantly put up Diwali at a date to be notified individually,” NPCI stated in a statement on 13 October.

MDR is mainly a payment that service provider pays banks and cost firms for processing a digital cost. It was on account of return to UPI from 15 October after six years of being banned by legislation.

NPCI pulled the date two days earlier than it was to take impact, following representations from service provider our bodies, fintech corporations and cost service suppliers, and has not but notified a brand new one.

October towards the identical month final 12 months

As anticipated, the festive season helped carry cost exercise. October had 31 days towards September’s 30, which is why the each day averages inform a cleaner story than the month-to-month totals.

In October 2025, UPI processed 20.70 billion transactions price Rs 27.28 lakh crore, with each day averages of 668 million transactions and Rs 87,993 crore, in keeping with NPCI information. In opposition to that, quantity is up 23% and worth up 16%.

Worth rising slower than quantity means the typical cost is getting smaller. October’s totals work out to a mean ticket of about Rs 1,238, down from roughly Rs 1,318 in October 2025, a fall of about 6%. Extra funds are going via UPI, and each is on common smaller than it was a 12 months in the past.

That common issues for the payment, as a result of the payment applies solely above Rs 2,000.

What the cost will seem like on a invoice

Beneath the framework NPCI set out in its FAQs in September, eligible person-to-merchant funds above Rs 2,000 entice 0.4%, capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 and above. A Rs 3,000 cost carries Rs 12, a Rs 10,000 cost Rs 40.

Some classes get cheaper remedy. Railways, telecom, insurance coverage and gas entice a flat Rs 5 per eligible transaction above Rs 2,000. Capital market funds, together with mutual funds and broking, entice 0.02% with the identical Rs 300 cap.

A number of massive pockets of UPI keep exterior the payment altogether. Individual-to-person transfers are untouched at any quantity. So are service provider funds of Rs 2,000 or much less. Small retailers accumulating as much as Rs 1 lakh a month via the P2PM route, the class NPCI makes use of for small sellers who settle for funds on a personal-style QR code, stay at zero MDR.

The FAQs are express that the associated fee sits with the service provider and stops there. Retailers should not allowed to move the MDR costs on to prospects.

How UPI grew to become free, and the way the legislation modified this 12 months

The ban on charging for UPI was not an NPCI coverage. It was statute.

The Finance (No. 2) Act, 2019 inserted Part 269SU into the Revenue-tax Act, requiring bigger companies to supply notified digital cost modes, and Part 10A into the Cost and Settlement Methods Act, 2007, which barred banks and system suppliers from charging for these modes. A Central Board of Direct Taxes round dated 30 December 2019 confirmed that no cost, together with MDR, would apply to UPI, UPI QR and RuPay debit playing cards from 1 January 2020. When some banks stored levying charges, the CBDT instructed them in August 2020 to refund the cash.

That structure was dismantled this 12 months. The Taxation and Different Legal guidelines (Modification) Act, 2026 amended Part 10A, in drive from 17 August 2026, breaking the hyperlink to Part 269SU and leaving it to the Division of Monetary Providers to resolve which cost modes keep free.

The division used that energy a month later. Notification S.O. 5067(E), dated 14 September 2026, specifies RuPay debit playing cards and UPI transactions as much as Rs 2,000 because the modes on which “no financial institution or system supplier shall impose, whether or not straight or not directly, any cost upon an individual making or receiving a cost”.

The Rs 2,000 line in NPCI’s payment framework is subsequently the identical line the federal government drew within the Gazette. Beneath it, charging is against the law. Above it, it’s now permitted.

What the payment pool is price, and who’s carrying the quantity

Brokerage estimates put the annual income the restored MDR may generate for banks and cost firms at Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,600 crore, Enterprise Customary reported in September.

The amount that pool could be drawn from is closely concentrated. In September, PhonePe held 45.6% of transactions via NPCI-listed UPI apps by quantity, Google Pay 32.2% and Paytm 8.1%, in keeping with NPCI information, with the three collectively at near 86% of transactions via listed UPI apps.

Paytm founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma stated through the firm’s Q2 FY27 earnings name that Paytm goals to seize one-third of the UPI shopper funds market.

It is price noting that NPCI has not but revealed the app-wise cut up for October.