Daily Brief

Fintech Brief — September 30, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Apple Pay lands in India — cards only, no UPI, and the fee fight decides who joins next After nearly a decade of waiting, Apple Pay went live in India on Wednesday with eligible Axis Bank credit cards on the Visa and Mastercard networks as the only supported instruments. The rollout is real but phased: users are reporting they can now add Axis cards to Apple Wallet via the Axis Bank app and verify with Face ID, though confirmed in-store tap payments are still trickling in. What India’s default payment habit won’t get: Apple Pay does not touch UPI, which handles roughly 84% of the country’s digital payment volume — this is a tokenised NFC credit-card play in a market where scan-the-QR-and-pay-from-bank-account is the norm. The launch cast is telling: HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card are absent at launch, with negotiations ongoing over Apple’s reported ask of about 20 basis points per transaction — a significant bite out of the roughly 40–50 bps margin in the payments layer. RuPay and American Express don’t work either, and debit cards aren’t supported yet. Why now: regulatory changes permitting biometric authentication for card payments finally accommodated Apple’s Face ID/Touch ID model, and Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey says “the pieces came together”. Consumer take: genuinely useful for travellers and premium-card users — but with NPCI having rolled out its own UPI Tap & Pay this month, tap-to-pay is no longer Apple’s differentiator here. The interesting fight isn’t at the terminal; it’s over that 20 bps, which will decide how many Indian banks ever show up. ...

Fintech Brief — September 29, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Supreme Court won’t stop the UPI fee — but the government must now defend it on affidavit The UPI MDR survives its first court test: a bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana on Monday refused an interim stay on the 0.4% merchant charge for UPI payments above ₹2,000, but issued notices to the Centre, RBI and NPCI returnable within four weeks. The October 15 rollout stands. The petition by advocate Anjan Datta challenges the September 14 gazette notification under Section 10A of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act and the September 15 MDR framework — and LiveLaw reports the court wants the government to explain, on affidavit, the basis for ending nearly six years of free UPI. The government’s core defence: MDR affects only ~4% of merchant transactions, is neither a tax nor a government levy, and the money stays within the payments ecosystem — while P2P transfers (37% of volume, 70% of value) and small merchants stay free. The fine print still bites: a flat ₹5 for railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agri inputs; 0.02% capped at ₹300 for mutual funds, securities and brokers. What the affidavit will have to reckon with: UPI carried 2,451 crore transactions worth ₹29.82 lakh crore in August 2026 alone — scale built on being free — and street resistance is organising, with mobile retailers’ “No UPI Day” set for October 2. Four weeks is the window in which the government’s cost study, if one exists, must surface. ...

Fintech Brief — September 28, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Bank strike called off at the eleventh hour: branches open today, but October 26 still looms The three-day nationwide bank strike scheduled for September 28–30 was deferred late Sunday night after a 9:30 PM meeting between the Indian Banks’ Association and the United Forum of Bank Unions. Per the UFBU’s September 27 circular, the IBA agreed to immediately constitute a high-level committee on the unions’ core demand — declaring all remaining Saturdays holidays for a five-day banking week — which will examine alternatives, consult stakeholders and “work towards a solution while keeping customers’ interests in mind”. Note the word: deferred, not cancelled. The unions’ indefinite strike call from October 26 remains on the table if the demand stays unresolved. The timing was never casual — the strike would have run into September 30, the half-yearly closing that drives reconciliation, provisioning and treasury operations, which is why the government had already advanced central government salaries, wages and September pensions to September 25 as a precaution. For customers: normal branch services today, and a committee report to judge before the next strike deadline. ...

Fintech Brief — September 27, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. The UPI MDR standoff enters its final fortnight: trader ranks split, government promises consumers won’t pay The merchant charge on high-value UPI hits on October 15, and the politics around it are fraying on all sides. The Confederation of All India Traders has categorically denied endorsing a nationwide “No UPI Day” on October 2, calling such reports misleading — even as Chandigarh’s mobile retailers (AIMRA) independently announced their own October 2 protest against the 0.4% fee, and MP traders held one on September 23. Meanwhile Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in an exclusive PTI interview, insisted the MDR is “not a tax, not a cess, not even a surcharge” — collections go to the payments ecosystem, not the Consolidated Fund — and that merchants, not customers, will bear it. The Finance Ministry has separately rejected claims of foreign pressure behind the decision. The carve-out map is now clear: P2P and P2M up to ₹2,000 stay free; above ₹2,000 it’s 0.4% capped at ₹300 (at ₹75,000+); essential thin-margin sectors — railways, telecom, insurance, fuel, agri inputs — pay a flat ₹5; and capital-market payments to brokers, mutual funds and securities go at just 0.02%. On that last slice, NSE chief Ashish Chauhan said there were no government talks on the MDR — “a decision taken by NPCI” — and expects brokers and clients to work it out between themselves. The consumer protection rule exists on paper — the ministry says banks have been told to ensure merchants don’t pass the charge on — but with 18 days to go, nobody has explained how a customer is supposed to detect a quietly inflated bill. ...

Fintech Brief — September 26, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Sitharaman calls the UPI MDR “purely professional” as NPCI reveals most merchants won’t pay it Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday rejected the Opposition’s claim that the 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI payments above ₹2,000 was adopted under external pressure, calling it “absolutely baseless” and describing the decision as a professional one taken jointly by NPCI, payments banks and merchant banks. She stressed the MDR is not a tax, cess or surcharge and the collections will not accrue to the government, and — per her SBI conclave remarks — a dedicated fund for promoting UPI among small merchants will get 5% of total MDR collections. NPCI’s own damage-control math: 75% of India’s 6 crore digital merchants have never recorded a single transaction above ₹2,000, and only about 10% of overall UPI transaction value risks the fee being passed to consumers. A finance-ministry official also indicated the GST Council is likely to consider relief on the 18% GST levied on MDR — a hidden surcharge on the fee itself that merchants will otherwise eat. Meanwhile traders’ associations are calling a “No UPI Day” on October 2, asking members to cover their QR codes — to be clear, UPI will keep working that day; this is a voluntary protest. With 19 days to go before the fee kicks in, the real consumer question stays unanswered: which merchants above the exemption line absorb the charge and which quietly pass it on. ...

Fintech Brief — September 25, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. SEBI’s board clears a sweeping rulebook refresh — new PMS and settlement regulations, wider FPI and accredited-investor access Markets regulator SEBI’s board on Thursday approved a broad package of capital-market reforms, headlined by two full regulation rewrites: the SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations, 2026 replacing the 2020 framework, and the SEBI (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2026 replacing the 2018 version. The PMS overhaul widens what discretionary portfolio managers can invest in — including IPOs and primary-market debt issuances — while FPIs get access to physically settled, non-agricultural commodity derivative contracts. The board also widened the accredited-investor pool: individuals with ₹5 crore in securities-market assets (₹20 crore for body corporates) can now qualify alongside the existing income and net-worth tests, with manager-led accreditation valid three years and deemed status for FPIs. Other decisions: REITs and listed InvITs may issue depository receipts overseas, research analysts are relieved of recording some institutional calls, a common advertisement code comes in, and first-time NCD issuers get a listing relaxation. The consumer watch-item is the accredited-investor widening — it quietly decides who can be sold riskier unlisted products, so the guardrails around that gatekeeping deserve scrutiny. ...

Fintech Brief — September 23, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. NPCI calls GST-on-MDR fears “misplaced” — but the resistance isn’t buying it With the 0.4% MDR on person-to-merchant UPI payments above ₹2,000 set to kick in on October 15, NPCI has pushed back on reports that 18% GST on the MDR will burden small merchants. In a statement on X, the payments body argued the apprehensions are misplaced on three counts: transactions up to ₹2,000 carry zero MDR and therefore no GST; merchants with monthly UPI receipts of up to ₹1 lakh aren’t liable to pay MDR at all; and GST-registered merchants can claim input tax credit on the MDR they pay, so they “do not bear the cost of GST” (Economic Times). The gap in that argument, as the Indian Express notes, is merchants whose turnover is below the GST registration threshold — they pay the GST embedded in MDR but can’t claim it back. Meanwhile the political economy of the fee keeps heating up: petrol pumps are refusing UPI above ₹2,000, traders’ bodies are protesting, and ex-NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has made the public-good case against the fee. On the other side, RBI Deputy Governor S C Murmu said last week the MDR is unlikely to trigger a shift back to cash — calling it “initial apprehension” as the ecosystem adjusts. For consumers the watch-item is unchanged: whether merchants above the exemption line surcharge, nudge cash, or simply stop accepting high-value UPI after October 15. ...

Fintech Brief — September 22, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. NSE IPO closes 5.7x subscribed — ₹90,000 crore chased the country’s biggest exchange India’s largest stock exchange wrapped up its landmark IPO with bids for about 50.4 crore shares against 8.86 crore on offer — subscribed 5.69 times — worth roughly ₹90,000 crore at the upper price band of ₹1,700–1,785. The ₹22,568.94-crore issue drew over $10 billion in bids, making it India’s second-largest IPO after Hyundai Motor India’s 2024 issue. Institutional demand dominated: the qualified institutional buyer portion was subscribed 12.68 times and non-institutional 6.55 times — retail just 1.39 times. Shares list on the BSE on September 24. NSE brings a 93% share of India’s cash equity market, around 75% of options trading, and 129 million registered investors as of March 2026. The consumer-relevant wrinkle: the exchange that sets the fees investors pay is about to become an investor-owned company — and retail, which got the thinnest allotment, will meet it on listing day at whatever price the institutions’ 12.68x hunger sets. ...

Fintech Brief — September 21, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Apple Pay is finally coming to India — starting with Axis Bank credit cards Reuters reports that Apple is poised to launch Apple Pay in India in October, debuting with Axis Bank’s credit cards while separately negotiating with HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, whose commercial terms are still not agreed. It has been a long road: Apple talked publicly about Apple Pay for India as far back as 2017, shelved a UPI-based version in 2018 over regulatory and data-localisation problems, and restarted talks with NPCI around 2023 (timeline recap). ...

Fintech Brief — September 20, 2026 Today’s Top Stories 1. Petrol pumps threaten a UPI blackout above ₹2,000 — the MDR fight gets concrete The first organised merchant revolt against the 0.4% UPI merchant fee is here. The Madhya Pradesh Petroleum Dealers Association has announced its members will stop accepting UPI payments above ₹2,000 from October 16, citing thin margins: the association estimates the fee adds ~₹590 a day (with GST) per pump — about ₹17,400 a month — across its 4,700 members, or roughly ₹8.17 crore a year statewide. Dealers in Mumbai have issued a similar warning for October 15, and Ghaziabad traders are already displaying cash-only notices as protest. ...