Paytm, Pine Labs and MobiKwik fell up to 10% amid reports of a possible delay in UPI MDR rollout
The delay could keep merchant UPI payments free through the festive season
The committee is also considering raising the exemption threshold to businesses with annual turnover of up to ₹40 Lakh
Update| October 8, 2026, 4:54 PM IST
Shares of Paytm ended today’s trading session 5.4% lower at ₹1,640 apiece on the BSE.Meanwhile, shares of Pine Labs fell 4.3% to ₹169.75, while Mobikwik declined 4.5% by the end of the session.
Original| October 8, 2026, 2:05 PM IST
Shares of fintech companies Paytm, Pine Labs and MobiKwik came under pressure today following reports that the proposed merchant discount rate (MDR) on select UPI transactions could be deferred.
Paytm’s stock fell as much as 10% to an intraday low of ₹1,560.60 apiece on the BSE. As of 13:30 PM IST, the stock was trading 5.21% lower at ₹1,643 apiece, giving the company a market capitalisation of ₹1,05,416.1 Cr ($10.8 Bn).
Pine Labs was trading 4.3% lower at ₹169.90 apiece, with a market capitalisation of ₹19,619.18 Cr ($2 Bn).
MobiKwik, meanwhile, was trading 5.7% lower at ₹241.25 apiece, with a market capitalisation of ₹1,899.7 Cr ($196.3 Mn).
The sell-off comes amid reports that the rollout of MDR on select UPI transactions may be deferred from October 15, to January 1, 2027.
As per a report by Business Standard, a proposal to defer the MDR rollout is under consideration, with a final decision expected in the coming days. The delay, if approved, would keep eligible merchant UPI payments free of MDR through the festive season.
The UPI and Services Steering Committee, headed by NPCI, met on Wednesday to discuss the proposed rollout among various other aspects of the framework.
The committee is also considering increasing the exemption threshold to businesses with an annual turnover of up to ₹40 Lakh. Under the earlier proposal, merchants receiving up to ₹1 Lakh a month through UPI QR codes directly into their bank accounts would be exempt from the fee.
Meanwhile, the RBI governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Wednesday that a “small fee” in the form of MDR is unlikely to have a major impact on UPI transaction volumes.
“As of now, we do not see any drop in volumes. And I don’t personally think that a small fee will have a major impact on the volumes,” Malhotra told reporters at the central bank headquarters.
Meanwhile, UPI transactions continued to grow, with the platform processing 24.07 Bn transactions worth ₹29.37 Tn in September, up 22.6% YoY in volume and 18% YoY in value.