How an ice cream bill became a payments case study

Why my #IceCream Bill Turned Into a #Payments Case Study 🍦💳!!
Over the weekend, I visited a popular ice cream parlor.
Like everyone else these days, I scanned the #QR to pay, only to see my bank account as the payment option and not my #Rupay #CreditCard!
The Merchant has disabled Rupay Credit Cards via #UPI, thanks to #MDR!
Most people would have shrugged and paid directly from their bank account.
But me? Being a proud credit card points hunter 😎, I pulled out the same Rupay card and paid through the #PoS machine.
The Cashier happily accepted it, and the Transaction was approved.

That tiny payment told a bigger story.
What’s really happening?
UPI has been free for merchants for years, no MDR (Merchant Discount Rate).
When Rupay Credit Cards were enabled on UPI, the #RBI allowed MDR (≈2%) for transactions above ₹2000.
Merchants, now used to zero-cost UPI, saw MDR as a new “expense” and many simply disabled Rupay Credit Card payments on QR.
But on PoS, MDR is already the norm, so they’re fine with the same card there.

Why it matters:
#BehaviouralEconomics in action - Once users/merchants get used to free, any fee feels like a loss!
#Innovation vs. #adoption gap - Great feature (CC on UPI), but rollout clashes with established incentives.

The experience shows how small pricing tweaks can make or break adoption, even if the tech is brilliant!

Have you seen other cases where a small change in fees completely shifted customer or merchant behaviour?