# Parliament passes law allowing UPI charges; no fee for small users yet 2026-08-12T16:30:54+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets The government has passed a law enabling it to impose charges on UPI, but Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured Parliament that no transaction fee will be levied on users or small merchants. The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, amends Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, removing the statutory bar that kept UPI fee-free since 2020. The government is exploring two options: a Merchant Discount Rate on high-value transactions or a tiered incentive structure to phase out subsidies, the Standing Committee on Finance reported. The Parliamentary panel had flagged that current subsidies cover only 11% of industry costs. The actual MDR framework will be decided by the NPCI-led steering committee. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com - thehindu.com - legal.economictimes.indiatimes.com - thehindu.com Tags: digital payments, Finance Ministry, MDR, NPCI, Parliament, UPI Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/no-upi-charge-yet-but-law-enables-future-mdr/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/no-upi-charge-yet-but-law-enables-future-mdr/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes.