
India to Restore UPI Merchant Fees, PhonePe Gains Most
India's government plans to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act to restore UPI merchant discount rates, ending the zero-MDR regime in place since January 2020.
Key Takeaways
May 9, 2026 · 2 min read · By Rishabh Bhardwaj
·
AI-assisted, human-reviewed · Our editorial standards

Congress has formally asked for a parliamentary debate on China's role in the India-Pakistan conflict that followed Operation Sindoor, after Beijing confirmed for the first time that it provided on-site technical support to Pakistan during the four-day standoff.
The admission from China is significant. Until now, Beijing's involvement had been alleged or inferred. A direct confirmation of on-site technical support, meaning Chinese personnel or systems were present and active on Pakistani soil during live hostilities with India, marks a qualitative shift in how the episode is understood.
China acknowledged providing on-site technical support to Pakistan during the four-day conflict triggered by Operation Sindoor. The nature of that support, whether it involved weapons systems, surveillance, communications, or military hardware, has not been fully detailed in the source, but the phrase "on-site" implies a physical, not merely advisory, presence during the conflict window.
This raises direct questions about the role Chinese military or technical assets may have played against Indian forces, and whether India's operational planning had factored in that level of Chinese involvement.
Congress wants Parliament to discuss what the government knew, when it knew it, and how it responded. The party's demand is also a pressure move: forcing the ruling dispensation to either defend its handling of the conflict on record or acknowledge gaps in its public account of events.
A parliamentary discussion would require the government to state its position on Chinese involvement formally, something it has so far avoided doing in explicit terms. That matters because India's diplomatic posture toward both China and Pakistan would need to account for this confirmation.
The timing also matters. India and China have been in a gradual diplomatic reset after the Galwan clash and the prolonged Ladakh border standoff. Beijing's open admission of supporting Pakistan militarily during Operation Sindoor complicates that reset and gives opposition parties a concrete thread to pull on.
Watch for whether the government agrees to a structured debate, how it characterizes Chinese involvement publicly, and whether this triggers any formal diplomatic communication between New Delhi and Beijing.

India's government plans to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act to restore UPI merchant discount rates, ending the zero-MDR regime in place since January 2020.
India's government has introduced the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposing changes to payments regulation, income tax, and the Finance Act to attract FDI and support Make in India. The Bill's final shape will depend on parliamentary debate and committee review.
The government's Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, proposes to replace the blanket UPI MDR ban with a system allowing the Centre to notify which payment modes stay fee-free.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Rs 5,000 crore Bhogapuram greenfield airport in Andhra Pradesh, built under a public-private partnership model. He also laid foundation stones for infrastructure projects worth nearly Rs 18,000 crore in the state, signalling a broad investment push for the region.