Overview
- The Indian School of Business published findings on Wednesday showing 45–53% of surveyed street vendors would cut UPI acceptance if a 0.4% merchant discount rate (MDR) is applied to transactions above ₹2,000.
- The study is based on a random phone survey of 722 vendors across 14 states and 64 urban local bodies conducted between September 24 and October 10, 2026.
- About 70% of vendors said they make supplier payments above ₹2,000, meaning the MDR could hit business‑to‑business purchases and not just retail sales.
- ISB found 10.4% of vendors had recently been charged extra by suppliers for UPI payments and roughly 31% of those said they would pass such costs to customers.
- Researchers urged NPCI and policymakers to run limited pilots, produce an independent cost–benefit accounting that counts UPI’s data benefits, and track supplier surcharges before a nationwide rollout.