💸 UPI fees are here. But 96% of you won't feel it.

Good morning.

UPI is no longer fully free. The bill passed, the fees are official, and the internet has opinions. But before you panic, read the details. Most of you are not affected.

First though, a 22-year-old who walked into a fitness class and made history.

Aubry Alldredge is 22 and has Down syndrome. For years, she attended every fitness class at her local gym in Utah. Her instructor noticed she was memorising choreography faster than anyone in the room, sometimes turning around mid-class to teach the people behind her.

So they certified her. Aubry recently led her first UpBeat Barre class in front of 60 people, the first person with Down syndrome to hold this certification. When asked what she loved most, she said: "I love collecting friends."

What happened?
The government has approved a 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on UPI transactions above ₹2,000. This applies only to merchants with annual turnover above ₹15 lakh. Consumers pay nothing. Read More →

Who is affected?
Large merchants processing high-value transactions. Your chai guy, your vegetable vendor, your local kirana store - all exempt. See the X post →

The number that matters:
Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai says 96% of all UPI transactions are below ₹2,000. Those remain completely free. The fee touches only the top 4% by value, and only on the merchant side.

Why it matters:
UPI costs money to run. Someone has to pay for the infrastructure. Until now, nobody did, and payment companies had no revenue model for their biggest product. 

This fee gives them one, without touching the everyday user. The debate is not whether the fee exists. It is whether it stays at 0.4%.

Maniguh is a small village in Uttarakhand's Almora district, about 350 km from Delhi. In 2023, it became India's first "library village" after a community-led effort filled the village with free reading spaces, bookshelves in public areas, and regular craft workshops for children.

The books are available in Hindi, English, and Kumaoni. Children and adults use them freely. Visitors are encouraged to leave a book behind when they go. 

A village that most maps skip, now known for something no Indian city has managed to build at this scale.

This Google ad is nearly a decade old. It still makes people cry. A granddaughter reunites her grandfather with his childhood best friend from Lahore. (3 min)

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