A user criticizes PhonePe's CEO for justifying the new UPI MDR by claiming it's for recovering operating costs, arguing the company spent investor money on customer acquisition ads and rewards...

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  "detected_at": "2026-09-18T03:50:28+00:00",
  "company": {
    "name": "PhonePe",
    "domain": "phonepe.com"
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  "data": {
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    "post_id": "1wjfha3",
    "summary": "A user criticizes PhonePe's CEO for justifying the new UPI MDR by claiming it's for recovering operating costs, arguing the company spent investor money on customer acquisition ads and rewards, not UPI infrastructure.",
    "category": "general",
    "comments": [
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paiekmz/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 332,
        "author": "personified_alien",
        "excerpt": "Nobody says postal department or army loses thousands of crores. It's a service, we are paying for it via gst, income tax and various cess.",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T04:31:13.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/personified_alien/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paibubr/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 113,
        "author": "FinWorld95",
        "excerpt": "its tax on tax.. again GST on that TAX? VOW!!!",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T04:12:34.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/FinWorld95/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paicfk3/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 71,
        "author": "raviyadav432",
        "excerpt": "No problem. We will find alternatives but in the end thesw guys would tax that one too saying it's not free. And they never said a word on free perks to these blood sucker politicians and babus. Thanks for clarifying, will use cash for more than 2000 transaction as already paid much of taxes",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T04:16:35.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/raviyadav432/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paie5kb/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 39,
        "author": "the_antinational",
        "excerpt": "Google Pay and PhonePe are foreign owned and largest UPI players. They need to earn something out it. They requested Trump administration. Visa and Mastercard are also losing due to free UPI. They also requested Trump administration to put pressure on India. Mr. Modi never lets down his fraands, whether Indian or Foreign.",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T04:28:20.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/the_antinational/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paiiv2x/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 14,
        "author": "sastasherlock_",
        "excerpt": "Even though BharatPe makes money through loans, they aren't going to let go off the extra revenue that comes in form of MDR.\n\n Ashneer stands to gain from this(via his holdings in BharatPe) and I would not be surprised if he is part of the lobby that convinced govt towards such a decision.\n\n Ashneer is making PR statement for popularity and it seems he is interested in joining Politics. He is foll",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T05:01:37.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/sastasherlock_/"
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      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paj4m8f/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 14,
        "author": "Empty-Mind-303",
        "excerpt": "UPI kept currency growth rate in check. Currency printing, replacement, transportation, security, counterfeit avoidance measures etc have tangible cost, perhaps much higher than infra cost of UPI. Who reaped the benefits of those cost benefits? In addition, UPI brought informal economic activity into formal/measurable/taxable purview. That too is tangible benefit. It's like - cost benefit is mine,",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T07:59:42.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/Empty-Mind-303/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paixwx8/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 12,
        "author": "sagkarag",
        "excerpt": "people never protested when govt added 4% cess on top of income tax prople never protested when govt gave 80% petrol at cost of 100% people never protested when govt gave poor infra, poor education and poor healtcare and now you expect people to protest for 0.4% charge lol keep dreaming",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T07:02:59.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/sagkarag/"
      },
      {
        "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/comment/paiswtf/",
        "depth": 0,
        "score": 11,
        "author": "thereisnosuch",
        "excerpt": "So UPI has also been implemented in other countries and it is free over there",
        "posted_at": "2026-09-18T06:19:06.000Z",
        "author_url": "https://www.reddit.com/user/thereisnosuch/"
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    ],
    "evidence": [
      "[post] And PhonePe's CEO defended it saying that they have spent so much amount to make UPI accessible and this will allow them to recover operating costs, which is utter bulshit!",
      "[post] They burned so much investor money on ads and rewards for customer acquisition, not for UPI infrastructure."
    ],
    "virality": "very_high",
    "post_date": "2026-09-18T03:50:28.000Z",
    "post_kind": "multi_media",
    "post_text": "There is so much misinformation being spread across internet so I spent some time trying to connect the dots around the new UPI MDR.And there is SO MUCH GOING ON HERE.\n\nI compiled everything that I found out. I will start with stating some obvious facts, so bear with me.\n\n1. NPCI is a not-for profit org - created by the Banks with RBI involvement. It operates UPI, RuPay, IMPS, NACH and other payment infrastructure. Even though it's not-for profit, it earns payment-service revenue across its various payment businesses and also has other income, including interest/investment income.\n\n2. Launch of UPI and 0 MDR policy - When UPI transaction is processed, it goes throughPayment gateway app /PSP(phonepe, gpay, etc) -> NPCI -> Bank -> Merchant.MDR is charged from Merchant and divided among the app, npci and bank.UPI was launched in 2016, and till 2019 it didn't have 0 MDR policy (in 2019 it was 0.3%). In 2020 Govt. introduced the 0 MDR policy and provided incentives to Banks to support this rule. And because of this UPI blew up.https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2228651&reg=48&lang=2\n\n3. NPCI itself has a surplus.If NPCI is a not-for-profit infrastructure organisation and generates a surplus, could that surplus be used for the incentive?\n\n4. PhonePe's upcoming IPO.After the 0.4% MDR, these UPI apps are going to earn money on transactions. And PhonePe's CEO defended it...",
    "sentiment": "negative",
    "subreddit": "IndiaTax",
    "post_flair": [
      "News :redditgold:"
    ],
    "post_title": "So apparently UPI is “too expensive” to keep free",
    "prominence": "core",
    "source_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaTax/comments/1wjfha3/so_apparently_upi_is_too_expensive_to_keep_free/",
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