The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction volumes went up 23 per cent (year-on-year) to 24.07 billion in the month of September, while UPI transaction value surged 18 per cent to Rs 29.37 lakh crore last month, according to data released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Thursday.

On an average basis, UPI processed around 802 million transactions daily in September, with average daily transaction value standing at about Rs 97,913 crore.

In August, the UPI transaction volumes went up 22 per cent (year-on-year) to 24.51 billion, while UPI transaction value rose 20 per cent to Rs 29.82 lakh crore.

Moreover, the IMPS instant fund transfer amount stood at Rs 7.06 lakh crore, up 18 per cent year-on-year. Average daily IMPS transaction counts were 11.80 million, with Rs 23,530 crore average daily transaction amount, the NPCI data showed.

Meanwhile, leading traders’ bodies have withdrawn their call to observe October 2 as “No UPI Day” following a meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the national capital. A delegation of around 20 trade representatives from various states met the finance minister to express concerns over the proposed 0.4 per cent fee on merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000.

The traders said the move could increase the burden on small and medium businesses and affect digital payment adoption among merchants. The delegation was led by Praveen Khandelwal, Member of Parliament from Chandni Chowk and secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

MDR applies only to P2M transactions above Rs 2,000. Transactions up to Rs 2,000 continue to have zero MDR and therefore zero GST impact.

Government data indicates that transactions of up to Rs 2,000 constitute more than 96 per cent of UPI merchant transaction volume. As a result, the overwhelming majority of UPI payments will not attract MDR and hence no GST on MDR.

Merchants with monthly UPI receipts of up to Rs 1 lakh are not liable to pay MDR and therefore do not even have the issue of GST on MDR.

The new UPI framework has no impact on any person-to-person transactions. UPI will continue to remain completely free for all person-to-person transactions, irrespective of the amount transferred.