From October 15, 2026, a 0.4 percent merchant discount rate will apply to specified person-to-merchant UPI payments above Rs 2,000, the first time most consumers will see the cost of running India's giant payments network. Here is what changes and what does not. Person-to-person transfers remain completely free. Shop payments up to Rs 2,000 stay free, and about 96 percent of merchant transactions fall below the threshold, so most daily spending is unaffected. Small merchants taking up to Rs 1 lakh a month through UPI QR codes under the new P2PM category pay nothing. The rate is capped at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 or more, while railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agricultural inputs carry a flat Rs 5 charge. No platform fees are allowed. The Supreme Court refused an interim stay on September 29 but asked the Centre, RBI and NPCI to respond to a challenge by advocate Anjan Datta. Mobile retailers have called a No UPI Day protest on October 2. UPI processed about 25 billion transactions worth Rs 30 trillion in August, covering 84 percent of India's digital payments by volume.