India's Finance Ministry clarifies that standard UPI transfers between individuals will remain free, while high-value business transactions may incur small fees to ensure the system's sustainability and enhance cybersecurity.
The Centre may allow a 0.25% to 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI business payments above Rs 2000 following an amendment introduced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament.
The Indian government plans to permit a merchant discount rate of 0.25% to 0.4% on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 made to businesses, while P2P transfers remain exempt. No implementation timeline has been set yet.
A new online abuse business is operating by charging Rs 99 via UPI for access to private Telegram groups. These groups allegedly contain women's images, including non-consensual photos and candid shots, with some posts soliciting "leaks" of private images. Investigations found over 70 such posts across social media platforms.
Pine Labs has introduced the Pine Labs Payment Protocol (P3P), an AI agent that can complete UPI payments autonomously without human authentication after an initial mandate. This technology, already live on Gullak for gold purchases and at Vijay Sales for deals, aims to enable autonomous wealth creation and secure purchases by eliminating the need for constant human oversight.
ICICI Bank has launched biometric authentication for UPI transactions up to Rs 5,000 on its iMobile app, allowing users to authorize payments via fingerprint (Android) or face recognition (iOS) without entering a UPI PIN. The feature is available on Android v30 and iOS v28.2, enhancing security by eliminating shoulder-surfing risks while speeding up transactions. Transactions above Rs 5,000 still require traditional UPI PIN verification. NPCI introduced this biometric option for payments below Rs 5,000 in October 2025.
