One 97 Communications has disclosed an imminent revision in fees levied on RuPay Credit Card on UPI transactions, effective April 1, 2026, following a circular from NPCI dated March 10, 2026. The circular reduces the Third Party Application Provider (TPAP) fee. Paytm stresses that this change only affects revenue derived from consumer UPI apps and will have no impact on its merchant acquiring revenue, maintaining that the overall financial effect on the company is immaterial due to its leadership in merchant payments.
Fee Revision for RuPay Credit Card on UPI Transactions
One 97 Communications Limited has informed stock exchanges regarding a significant revision in fees applicable to transactions using RuPay Credit Cards on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). This change is mandated by a circular issued by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on March 10, 2026, with an effective date of April 1, 2026.
Impact on Consumer Apps vs. Merchant Business
The company explicitly states that the circular exclusively pertains to the revenue earned by consumer UPI apps acting as the Third Party Application Provider (TPAP) or Payer PSP. Crucially, this revision will have no impact on the revenue earned from merchants on the acquiring side, such as UPI merchant QR revenue.
Paytm emphasizes its strong leadership position in merchant payments, which constitute the vast majority of its payments revenue. The Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), which is the rate charged to merchants, is unaffected, as it is priced independently by the Company.
Specific Fee Reductions Detailed
The revision involves a reduction in the TPAP fee earned by the consumer UPI app for processing these specific transactions:
- Non-Industry Category: Fee reduced from 8 basis points down to 6 basis points (a reduction of 2 basis points).
- Industry Category: Fee reduced from 4 basis points down to 3 basis points (a reduction of 1 basis point).
The Issuer Interchange fee remains applicable, with the total payable to Payer PSP & App being halved in both categories.
Financial Conclusion
Given that the majority of the company’s payment processing margin is derived from the MDR charged to merchants, which remains stable, the financial impact of this reduction in the TPAP fee is deemed immaterial for the Company. Furthermore, Paytm notes that its payment processing margin remains comfortably above 4 basis points, supported by the adoption of higher-margin products like Paytm Postpaid and EMI by its merchants.
The circular from NPCI also confirms that these revised fees will not apply to Small Offline Merchants for transactions less than or equal to INR 2,000, nor to AutoPay, EMI, or Reserve Pay transactions.
Source: BSE
