RBI Grade B Current Affairs — 26 September 2026

The government has confirmed it will not extend the October 15 deadline for reintroducing Merchant Discount Rate on select UPI transactions. MDR, a fee charged on digital payment processing, was waived for UPI in 2020. Its selective reintroduction marks a significant policy shift for India's digital payments ecosystem. Separately, the GST Council is expected to review whether the 18% GST currently applicable to MDR charges should be revised, adding a second layer of uncertainty for merchants and payment aggregators.

MDR is the fee that a merchant's bank charges for processing a digital payment. It is split among the acquiring bank, the issuing bank, and the payment network. In January 2020, the government waived MDR on UPI and RuPay debit card transactions to accelerate digital payment adoption, compensating banks through a separate government incentive scheme.

Reintroducing MDR on select UPI transactions reverses that approach. The government now appears to signal that the payment infrastructure has matured enough to be commercially self-sustaining. However, MDR reintroduction carries two cost layers for merchants: the MDR itself, and 18% GST on that fee, since payment processing services attract GST under the standard rate for financial services.

The GST Council's potential review matters because even a small MDR — say 0.3% — becomes meaningfully more expensive when GST is added on top of it. For small merchants and kirana stores, this could discourage UPI acceptance.

From a monetary policy and credit transmission angle, higher merchant costs can push informal transactions back to cash, reducing data trails that banks use for credit assessment — directly affecting financial inclusion metrics that RBI tracks through the Financial Inclusion Index. For UPSC, the intersection of fiscal policy (GST rate), payment regulation (RBI's oversight of payment systems), and digital public infrastructure makes this a high-value concept.

IDFC FIRST Bank has completed integration with the Central Board of Direct Taxes payment gateway, allowing taxpayers to pay income tax and other direct taxes through UPI, credit and debit cards, net banking, and physical bank branches. This makes IDFC FIRST Bank an authorised collection bank for CBDT, expanding the number of channels available for direct tax remittance across India and adding a private sector bank to the government's tax collection network.

Authorised tax collection banks are institutions designated by CBDT under the Income Tax Act to receive direct tax payments on behalf of the government. These banks connect to the Tax Information Network (TIN), operated by NSDL e-Governance, which routes payments to the government's account and issues taxpayers a challan as proof of payment.

Historically, the State Bank of India and a handful of public sector banks dominated CBDT collection. Over time, RBI and the government have expanded the network to include private banks, improving reach and reducing congestion during advance tax deadlines (June 15, September 15, December 15, and March 15).

For a bank, joining this network has both regulatory and commercial significance. Regulatory: the bank must meet RBI's standards for payment system integrity, cybersecurity, and fund settlement. Commercial: float income accrues between collection and remittance to government, and the bank gains increased transaction volume and customer engagement.

For aspirants, the key concept is the distinction between CBDT (direct taxes — income tax, corporate tax) and CBIC (indirect taxes — GST, customs). Payment infrastructure for direct taxes flows through authorised banks and TIN, whereas GST flows through a separate GSTN ecosystem. Confusing these two is a common distractor in MCQs.

Tax professionals and industry bodies have urged the CBDT to extend the September 30, 2025 deadline for filing tax audit reports under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act for Assessment Year 2026-27 to October 31. The request cites portal glitches, compressed timelines, and heavy workload. As of now, CBDT has not announced any extension. Taxpayers failing to meet the deadline face a penalty of 0.5% of turnover or ₹1.5 lakh, whichever is lower.

A tax audit under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, 1961 is mandatory when a business's turnover exceeds ₹1 crore (or ₹10 crore if cash transactions are below 5% of total) or a professional's gross receipts exceed ₹50 lakh in a financial year. The audit must be conducted by a Chartered Accountant, who submits Form 3CA/3CB and Form 3CD.

The deadline for filing the tax audit report is typically September 30 of the Assessment Year. CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes), under the Ministry of Finance, has statutory authority to extend this deadline via a circular under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act.

Missing the deadline triggers a penalty under Section 271B: 0.5% of total sales/turnover/gross receipts, subject to a maximum of ₹1.5 lakh. However, if reasonable cause is demonstrated, the Assessing Officer may waive the penalty under Section 273B.

For exam purposes, the key statutory linkages are: Section 44AB (mandate), Section 271B (penalty), Section 273B (waiver), and Section 119 (CBDT's power to extend). The CBDT does extend deadlines periodically — historically, extensions to October 7 or October 15 have occurred — but each year the profession lobbies for more time. This cycle is exam-relevant because examiners test both the static framework (threshold, penalty cap, applicable form) and recent CBDT circulars.