For HDFC Securities, the company said the new framework was unlikely to result in any material change to customer-facing pricing because of its payment-channel mix.
As stockbrokers continue to raise concerns over the additional cost of UPI-based fund transfers, HDFC Securities has said over 98 per cent of transactions on its InvestRight and HDFC SKY platforms would remain outside the scope of the new UPI merchant discount rate (MDR) framework.
An analysis of customer transaction data between January and August showed that its two platforms processed more than 5.23 crore transactions. Of these, around 5.14 crore, or over 98 per cent, were routed through its HDFC Bank-linked 3-in-1 mandate or net banking, both of which are outside the MDR framework.
UPI accounted for about 9.6 lakh transactions, or less than 2 percent of the total, the brokerage house said. The 3-in-1 mandate route alone accounted for approximately 5.1 crore transactions, while net banking contributed another 3.6 lakh.
Largely unaffected
For HDFC Securities, the company said the new framework was unlikely to result in any material change to customer-facing pricing because of its payment-channel mix. “Our customers have consistently gravitated toward payment channels built for ease and reliability, and that behaviour has, as it turns out, also insulated the overwhelming majority of them from this change,” HDFC Securities MD and CEO Dhiraj Relli said.
The payment mix puts HDFC Securities in a different position from the discount broking industry, where UPI has become a major channel for funding trading accounts. Broker associations have told the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that around 90 per cent of broking transactions take place through UPI and that UPI accounts for about two-thirds of money added or traded on broking platforms.
HDFC Securities is one of the largest brokers’ in the country but its share of retail broking is considerably smaller than its customer base might suggest. It had around 13.5 lakh active NSE clients in August, accounting for about 3.1 percent of active clients on the exchange.
Brokers raise concern
The new MDR framework will levy a 0.02 per cent charge on UPI transactions in the capital-market category, including payments to stockbrokers, mutual funds, securities and dealers, subject to a cap of ₹300 per transaction, from October 15. The standard MDR for eligible person-to-merchant UPI transactions above ₹2,000 is 0.4 per cent.
Several brokers have raised concerns of the MDR getting triggered when money is transferred to a trading account, irrespective of whether the customer subsequently trades. This means a broker could incur the payment cost even when the transfer does not generate brokerage revenue.
SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey said last week that the regulator would examine the concerns raised by stockbrokers and look at ways to ease them.
Published on September 21, 2026
