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DPI Brief — August 20, 2026 UPI MDR Bill Gets Presidential Assent; Cash Usage Quickens The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 received the President’s assent on August 18, amending the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 to legally enable a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI and RuPay transactions. The government reiterated that UPI will remain free for consumers; any future MDR will be “nominal” and restricted to select merchant categories. The actual rates, eligibility thresholds, and revenue-sharing mechanism will be decided by the UPI and Services Steering Committee chaired by NPCI — six key questions the final framework must still settle, as Business Standard outlined. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Wednesday | August 19, 2026 Theme: L3 — Documents & Data Exchange (DigiLocker, API Setu, eSign) This week, India’s documents and data exchange layer saw three significant developments: Parliament was informed of DigiLocker crossing 72 crore users, SEBI proposed allowing Aadhaar e-sign for overseas investor KYC, and Bharat Taxi became the first non-government platform to formally integrate with DigiLocker, UMANG, and API Setu under a NeGD MoU. ...

DPI Brief — August 19, 2026 President Assent Opens Door for UPI MDR Charges 1 President Droupadi Murmu gave assent on August 17 to the Payment and Settlement Systems (Amendment) Act, 2026, fundamentally altering the legal framework around zero-MDR on UPI and RuPay. The amendment gives the government power to notify which electronic payment modes or transaction categories will remain exempt from Merchant Discount Rate charges — and, by implication, which won’t. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Tuesday | August 18, 2026 This week on the L2 Payments & Financial Rails layer, the single biggest story is the Parliament’s passage of the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — which, for the first time since January 2020, cracks open the legal door to a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI and RuPay debit card transactions. That one legislative move has triggered a cascade of consequences: a framing debate about who bears the cost of free payments, early behavioural data suggesting consumers are drifting back to cash, NPCI’s record July transaction numbers that simultaneously prove UPI’s dominance and expose its growth deceleration, and an international expansion drive that is using UPI as a diplomatic instrument. Here are the five stories that defined this week. ...

DPI Brief — August 18, 2026 L2: Parliament Clears Path for UPI Merchant Fees — But Consumers Stay Shielded The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 has amended Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, removing the statutory prohibition that barred banks and payment companies from levying a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions. The change, passed in the just-concluded Parliament session, empowers the UPI Steering Committee to implement targeted charges — effectively transitioning the network from a fully subsidised public good to a commercially viable utility. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Sunday | August 17, 2026 India’s security, privacy, and trust layer — the bedrock on which all other DPI layers rest — had a turbulent week. From a sharp CERT-In advisory on sophisticated M365 phishing to the MeitY Secretary drawing a firm line on DPDP compliance deadlines, and a new regulatory framework for power-sector cybersecurity, the signals are clear: the trust infrastructure is under sustained pressure and the regulatory response is accelerating. ...

DPI Brief — August 17, 2026 India’s DPI ecosystem saw significant movement this week across identity, cybersecurity, and infrastructure security layers. Here are the five most important updates. 1. UIDAI Extends Free Aadhaar Email Updates via Mobile App — L1 (Identity) UIDAI has made email address updates linked to Aadhaar free through its mobile app until 31 December 2026, waiving the usual ₹50–75 fee. Users can update via the Aadhaar app with OTP verification and face authentication, with changes typically reflecting within 2–3 hours. The move lowers the barrier for citizens to maintain a secondary recovery channel alongside mobile numbers — a small but meaningful improvement to the identity layer’s resilience, especially as Aadhaar increasingly underpins financial services, e-KYC, and welfare delivery. ...

DPI Deep Dive — Sunday | August 16, 2026 Layer L7: Security, Privacy & Trust — CERT-In, DPDP Act, TRAI, and the institutions guarding India’s digital perimeter. 1. RBI and SEBI Ratchet Up Cyber Preparedness as Banking Fraud Crosses ₹48,000 Crore in FY26 The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report for FY26 has laid bare an uncomfortable truth: while the number of bank frauds fell from 23,722 in FY25 to 10,114 in FY26, the total amount involved surged 46.4% to ₹48,021 crore. Fewer incidents, vastly more damage per case — the signature of AI-amplified financial crime. ...

DPI Brief — August 16, 2026 1. UPI Growth Slows as Cash Usage Quickens — MDR Debate Heats Up (L2 — Payments) The Parliament-passed Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 has opened the door for a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions — a first since the platform was launched in 2016. While the government insists consumer-facing transactions will stay free, the Bill creates legal room to levy charges on select high-value merchant payments (potentially above ₹2,000). ...

DPI Deep Dive — Saturday | August 15, 2026 L6: Governance & Grievance — DARPG, CPGRAMS, eOffice India’s Governance & Grievance layer — anchored by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and its flagship Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) — had a significant week. From parliamentary disclosures on grievance volumes to the maturation of AI-powered grievance registration and the growing international export of India’s governance stack, this layer is quietly becoming one of the most consequential pieces of India’s DPI architecture. ...