Been seeing a lot of speculation about MDR coming to UPI soon. Quick context, MDR is the small cut taken on a digital payment, split between the app, the network and the bank. Cards typically run 1-2% but UPI has been deliberately set to 0 since 2020 to get small merchants onto it.
PhonePe would benefit most if it's implemented. It runs almost half of all UPI value, 82% of its revenue is payments, right now and it can barely charge for any of it. A company this dominant is still losing money (with around $160m in the first half of the year) while Paytm made a small profit on similar revenue.
The timing makes it very interesting to me. They're filing to go public soon near $15 bn. Add even a modest MDR fee and they could be profitable as the expensive part of building the distribution is already done.