The United States and the European Union have strongly criticised India's trade policies at the World Trade Organization review, highlighting concerns over high tariffs, quality-control orders (QCOs), and restrictions on digital trade and services, which they argue undermine India's economic openness.
Digital money is gradually starting to behave like software. It's no longer inert -- sitting passively in accounts. In the not-so-distant future, your money could become 'smart' and 'active,' understanding your preferences, paying your bills automatically, optimising your returns, and managing your risks -- all without you having to manage the details.
The BJP has accused the Congress of spreading "fake news" regarding UPI transaction charges, asserting that the government has clarified that consumers will not be levied merchant discount rate (MDR) charges. This comes after the Congress criticised a government notification, alleging it paves the way for imposing fees on UPI transactions. The BJP has strongly refuted these claims, highlighting that most UPI transactions remain free and the government provides incentives to maintain a charge-free ecosystem for users.
IRCTC is expanding its payments arm, IRCTC Payments, to handle transactions across its ticketing platform and tap government clients, aiming to scale its annual payment processing to approximately 1 trillion.
An IIT Madras study reveals that financial cybercrime victims in India are often highly educated professionals, challenging the notion that only careless or financially unaware individuals are targeted. The research highlights that digital literacy doesn't guarantee protection, as fraudsters exploit stress and emotional vulnerabilities.
Credit card transactions in India have surged over 2.6 times between 2021 and 2025, driven by private sector banks, while debit card usage declines due to growing adoption of UPI and digital wallets, according to an RBI report.
India's economy is projected to lose momentum in the second half of fiscal 2026-27, with tighter financial conditions, elevated energy prices, and broadening inflation pressures posing significant risks, according to DBS Bank economist Radhika Rao.
N Sundaresha Subramanian digs deeper into what Catalyst, an Indo-US project, brings to the payments ecosystem.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has criticised the Centre for introducing a 0.4% charge on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, alleging the decision was influenced by pressure from the United States and its payment companies like Visa and Mastercard. He highlighted a perceived shift in the government's stance on Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for UPI, claiming it would ultimately burden consumers and small businesses while benefiting American firms.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions moderated slightly in June from a record high in May, reaching Rs 28.9 lakh crore. Despite a month-on-month decrease in volume, the daily average transactions hit a new high, indicating UPI's strong adoption for low-value payments. The platform also demonstrated significant annual growth and expanding international presence.
Making UPI payments fee-based for some transactions could enhance mental reservations against digital payments -- which have largely been overcome -- once more. Do we want to regress?, asks R Jagannthan.
State Bank of India (SBI) anticipates that the newly introduced Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions above 2,000, effective October 15, will enable it to recover the costs incurred in processing and facilitating these transactions, potentially even generating a small surplus.
A Public Interest Litigation has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's decision to impose a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI person-to-merchant transactions exceeding Rs 2,000. The plea argues that the levy was introduced without adequate statutory safeguards, transparency, or public consultation, and questions its constitutional validity and potential adverse effects on merchants and consumers.
The Congress party has strongly refuted government claims that its MPs on the Parliament Standing Committee on Finance supported a fee on high-value UPI payments. Congress leaders, including Gaurav Gogoi and Manish Tewari, stated that the "UPI tax" proposal was not specifically discussed by the committee, accusing the Modi government of diverting attention from public backlash and appeasing US companies. The government, however, cited the committee's report which pressed for a tiered Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework.
Total payments in the economy grew 24.08 per cent to Rs117.43 trillion in value terms in June, compared to Rs94.64 trillion in May.
Artificial intelligence major Anthropic has launched AI inference capabilities in India through Amazon Bedrock, allowing its Claude AI models to process data within the country's jurisdiction. This strategic move addresses the growing demand from Indian entities, particularly in regulated sectors, for compliance with local data processing norms as per the Digital Personal Data Protection Act. The initiative strengthens Anthropic's commitment to the Indian market, enabling secure and compliant AI deployment for sensitive workloads and fostering trust among major enterprises like Reliance, CRED, and NPCI.
A new EY India report highlights how young professionals, women wealth creators, entrepreneurs, ESOP beneficiaries, and digitally active consumers from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are fundamentally changing India's wealth ecosystem. This shift is evidenced by increased participation of young and women investors, a rise in disciplined investing via SIPs, and the crucial role of Digital Public Infrastructure in democratizing access to long-term wealth creation. The report predicts over 100 million new investors by 2035.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon the fintech industry to expand the global footprint of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), advocating for its integration with international payment systems to reduce remittance costs for the Indian diaspora. Speaking at the Global Fintech Fest, Modi highlighted UPI's current presence in 11 countries and its connection with Singapore's local system, urging further expansion into nations with significant Indian populations or trade ties. He also stressed the need for India to set its own global payment standards and for the fintech sector to innovate beyond payments, focusing on cybersecurity, ethical data protection, and regulatory frameworks.
The Rajya Sabha has passed The Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026, which aims to replace a British-era law and allow digital and virtual records to be admissible as evidence in courts. This legislation aligns with contemporary digital banking practices and extends a uniform evidential framework to various financial entities, including NBFCs and fintech companies. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted the bill's role in strengthening public confidence and safeguarding customer privacy. The bill's passage, however, saw an Opposition walkout over unrelated issues.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced new features for India's digital payment ecosystem, including UPI tap-to-pay for PIN-less transactions up to 5,000 and multi-currency capabilities for forex on Bharat Connect, supporting Euro, British Pound, and other major currencies.
Consumers can effectively make payments using UPI and other debit cards, credit cards and internet banking across 120 banks and over 120 billers, Xiaomi said.
Out of all the reported digital payment frauds in India, over half (55 per cent) were United Payments Interface (UPI)-related, a new report released on Tuesday revealed. Another 18 per cent are card related, 12 per cent are related to internet banking and nine per cent are from phishing calls. Most of the UPI-related frauds, however, have a low ticket size.
Indian digital certification authority eMudhra has reported a compromise of private keys for some of its global TLS and code-signing certificates, according to Cert-In. This incident, while eMudhra states it has limited impact on its Indian operations, could allow cybercriminals to impersonate websites. Separately, SBI has disclosed a suspected exposure of nearly 4,000 customer records on the dark web.
Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, has urged for the expanded adoption of the Account Aggregator (AA) framework to facilitate formal credit access for self-employed individuals and gig workers. He highlighted its potential to enable cash-flow-based lending by leveraging diverse data streams, moving beyond traditional asset-based lending, and fostering a more inclusive digital financial infrastructure in India.
Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the flagship payments platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), touched a record high both in terms of volume and value of transactions in June after a slump in April and May. The platform recorded 2.8 billion transactions worth Rs 5.47 trillion in June, up 10.6 per cent in volume terms and 11.56 per cent in value terms over May. This is in sync with the opening up of the economy as Covid cases gradually came down from its peak in mid-May and lockdowns were eased in various places.
SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey stated that the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has not submitted any proposal seeking approval to trade on its own platform after getting listed, and such trading is currently not permitted. He also confirmed that SEBI would examine concerns raised by brokers and asset management companies regarding the new UPI Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework.
India's markets regulator Sebi has launched 'Demat 2.0', a pilot project for tokenisation of corporate bonds, enabling atomic settlement through integration with RBI's wholesale CBDC. This new market infrastructure uses Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) to make bond issuance, trading, and settlement faster and more efficient. India is the first country to issue corporate bonds natively on a distributed ledger with central bank digital currency settlement. Additionally, RBI Governor announced new UPI innovations: 'Tap & Pay' for faster POS transactions and MyUPI, an AI-powered customer support solution.
'... but runs with the rigour and discipline of a large enterprise.'
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra reiterated India's cautious stance on cryptocurrencies due to concerns over monetary sovereignty and capital flows, while actively promoting underlying technologies like distributed ledger technology and tokenisation. He also addressed the global rise in public debt and hardening bond yields, attributing it to increased government and private spending, including that driven by AI, and noted the implications of global interest rates on India's monetary policy.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed several measures to develop a more conducive framework for the long-term growth of Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs), including enhanced transaction security and clearer rules on refunds and grievance redressal.
Cyber intelligence firm CloudSEK reports that online fraudsters are using a new toolkit called 'Digital Lutera' to bypass security features of UPI apps and carry out fraudulent financial transactions.
The RSS-affiliated Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) has urged the government to reconsider imposing a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, arguing that the costs do not warrant such a move. This comes after the government announced a 0.4 per cent fee on merchant transfers over Rs 2,000 from October 15, while assuring that person-to-person and small payments remain free. SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan highlighted that banks have not demanded MDR and that UPI has reduced their transaction costs.
The Congress party has strongly criticised the Modi government's decision to introduce a 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions over Rs 2,000, alleging it is a result of US pressure to benefit American card companies. The party also linked this move to broader US actions against India, including tariffs and H-1B visa issues, coining the term "Narendra's Ongoing Trump Appeasement." The government, however, clarified that consumers will not bear the charge, which applies only to merchants.
CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has strongly criticised the newly introduced Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select UPI transactions, labelling it a "UPI tax" and demanding its immediate rollback. He drew parallels with demonetisation, arguing that the new framework would negatively impact small shopkeepers, MSMEs, and ordinary citizens by increasing prices.
Unlimited health insurance plans offer a financial cushion against mounting medical bills, but buyers must look beyond the coverage amount and understand the fine print, including exclusions, waiting periods, and co-payments, before committing to the high premiums.
The Indian government has introduced a 0.4% transaction fee on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments exceeding Rs 2,000 for merchants, effective October 15, marking the end of nearly six years of free service. Person-to-person transfers and small-value transactions below Rs 2,000 remain free. The new Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) is capped at Rs 300 for transactions above Rs 75,000, with differentiated rates for essential sectors and investments, and safeguards to prevent costs from being passed to consumers.
Credit card transactions in India have surged over 2.6 times between 2021 and 2025, reaching 570 crore volumes and Rs 23.2 lakh crore in value, with private sector banks significantly increasing their market share, according to a recent RBI report.
Both firms have made several applications for patents pertaining to digital payments in the country
Can your money be protected against online frauds like hacking, digital arrests, etc?
Anup Bagchi, the incoming MD & CEO of HDFC Bank, is set to become India's highest-paid bank CEO with a proposed target annual compensation package of approximately 35.9 crore, including a significant variable pay component and a one-time joining bonus.
