ADVERTISEMENTAll person-to-person UPI transactions will continue to be free, it said. The clarification comes after an amendment to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, sparked a debate over whether the government was preparing to impose charges on UPI transactions. The government said any future MDR would be threshold-based rather than imposed across all UPI transactions, with the “vast majority” of merchant payments continuing to be free. United Payment Interface or UPI has become the world’s largest real-time payment system since its launch in 2016-17, processing 2,366 crore transactions worth Rs 29.9 lakh crore in July 2026 alone. Today, it said, UPI has grown into the world’s largest real-time payment system, processing 2,366 crore transactions worth Rs 29.9 lakh crore in July 2026 alone.