Bharath walks into a shop to buy a mobile phone worth ₹50,000. He scans the UPI QR code, enters the amount and within seconds, the payment is done. There is no cash, no card and no extra charge visible to him. For Bharath, UPI is simply a convenient and almost effortless way of making a payment. But what happens on the other side of that QR code? The introduction of the new Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework brings this question into focus. From October 15, 2026, specifie