Habitual fake news peddler The Wire is back with another piece of fake news. This time, they have claimed that Indians have started to switch to cash from UPI after the parliament passed a bill allowing the centre to impose a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on some Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions. The Wire claimed, “data shows that these transactions have been slowing in the last five years, with cash flow increasing in the same period.”
The Wire report further claims, “UPI transactions have declined, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).” However, contrary to the claim, UPI transactions have not declined in the country. While the data shows that the rate of annual growth of UPI has been coming down, Wire changed that to a fall in UPI transactions.
The article by The Wire, published on 16 August 2026 and based on a The Hindu analysis from the previous day, asserts that UPI transactions have slowed while cash usage is increasing, linking this to the recent passage of the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which enables the government to permit a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on certain UPI and RuPay transactions. The article implies a behavioural shift away from UPI “since” the announcement.
The entire claim made by left-wing propaganda portal The Wire is baseless, because no MDR on UPI has been imposed yet. The Bill is only an enabling provision that amends Section 10A of the Payment and...
Habitual fake news peddler The Wire is back with another piece of fake news. This time, they have claimed that Indians have started to switch to cash from UPI after the parliament passed a bill al...