The Hall of Free Things — Excavating the Last Free Month of 2026
The Hall of Free Things Dispatch from Neo-Mumbai, Financial Year 2047. The week of September 13–19, 2026, when the free payment rail acquired a price tag, the price tag acquired a courtroom, and the nation’s museums competed for a new acquisition: the concept of free. 📰 Future Headlines From This Week “MDR on UPI Notified: 0.4% Fee Applicable on Person-to-Merchant Transactions Above ₹2,000, Effective October 15” — Times of India, September 16, 2026 “PIL in SC Challenges 0.4% MDR on UPI Transactions Above ₹2,000” — Business Standard, September 16, 2026 “Government Denies US Pressure Behind UPI MDR, Says Charge Will Help Indian UPI Apps” — The Hindu / ET, September 18, 2026 “Paytm, MobiKwik Shares Jump Up to 5–7% After UPI MDR Announcement; Brokerages See Revenue Boost” — Moneycontrol, September 16, 2026 “Credit for the Next 50 Crore: How PhonePe’s New Co-Branded Cards Target India’s Underserved” — Economic Times, September 16, 2026 “Financiers Cannot Repossess Vehicles by Force: Supreme Court Awards ₹10 Lakh Compensation to Truck Owner” — LiveLaw, September 2026 “RBI Proposes 60-Day Cap on Temporary Debit Holds for Suspected Money Mule Accounts” — ET BFSI, September 2026 A Curator’s Testimonial I am Curator-11 of the Museum of Financial Optimism, Fee Provenance Division, and this month we opened our most visited wing: the Hall of Free Things. School groups arrive by the coachload and ask the same first question, and I give the same first answer: yes, children, there was once a thing called free, and no, it did not die of natural causes. ...