One97 Communications, the parent firm of Paytm, tanked 10% to an intra-day low of Rs 864.40 on the National Stock Exchange after the Ministry of Finance clarified that it has no intention to levy merchant discount rate (MDR). The stock price of Paytm has, however, recovered some ground after the initial knee-jerk reaction.
What is a merchant discount rate?
MDR is a fee that merchants pay to banks or payment service providers each time a customer makes a digital payment, such as with a debit or credit card, or via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), as per an official statement. The ministry’s clarification follows numerous media reports suggesting that MDR fees might be reinstated.
“Speculation and claims that the MDR will be charged on UPI transactions are completely false, baseless, and misleading. Such baseless and sensation-creating speculations cause needless uncertainty, fear and suspicion among our citizens,” said the Finance Ministry in a post on social media platform X.com. “The Government remains fully committed to promoting digital payments via UPI,” it added.
Apart from that, One 97 Communications has granted 23.70 lakh equity shares of the company to the eligible employees under the One 97 Employees Stock Option Scheme 2019.
Paytm Q4 results 2025
Paytm reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 540 crore in Q4 FY25 compared with Rs 550 crore posted in the same period a year ago. The exceptional items stood at Rs 522 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25, which includes Rs 492 crore charge towards acceleration of ESOP expense and Rs 30 crore towards other impairments.
“The industry expects MDR on UPI for large merchants to be allowed in the near future, which will result in incremental monetisation opportunities. We will update our payment processing margin guidance once we have clarity on MDR on UPI,” said Paytm in a statement while reporting its quarterly results.
Paytm stock performance
The share price of Paytm has fallen 4% in the last five trading sessions. It has given a return of 3.9% in the past one month and over 1 year, delivering multiple returns of 124%.