From an impending levy on select UPI payments becoming reality to India’s exports posting strong growth numbers in August, the continuing dispute over the listing of Tata Group holding company Tata Sons, the National Stock Exchange receiving a vote of approval from institutional investors and Formula 1 announcing a 2027 season that matches its longest—here are this week’s news in numbers.
Free to paid
A decade after its launch and rapid adoption, the unified payments interface (UPI) will see charges introduced on certain merchant transactions from 15 October. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said a 0.4% fee would apply to UPI transactions above ₹2,000 made to merchants, subject to a ceiling of ₹300 per transaction. For categories such as fuel, telecom, railways and insurance, the fee will be a flat ₹5 per transaction.
Data given by the finance ministry shows there were about 152 billion peer-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions, worth ₹91 trillion in 2025-26. Transactions above ₹2,000 accounted for just 4% of P2M transactions by volume but 67% by value. Applying a 0.4% fee to this value would imply about ₹24,000 crore in annual fee revenue.
Export surge
India’s goods exports turned in robust numbers in August, lifting their performance for the five-month period from April to August. On a year-on-year basis, the total value of India’s goods exports increased 26% in August. For the April-August period, the total year-on-year increase was 17.8%; even excluding petroleum products, growth stood at 14.4%. Of the top 10 sectors, which accounted for about 83% of India’s goods exports during the April-August period, nine recorded higher growth than in 2025-26, with five posting double-digit growth.
However, for a clearer picture of the growth, these numbers should be adjusted for the rupee’s depreciation from ₹88.30 to the dollar in 2025-26 to ₹95.11 during April-August 2026, a decline of 7.7%.
Tata imbroglio
Tata Sons Private Limited, the holding company of the Tata Group, was said to be exploring various options, including a legal challenge, to the central bank’s directive requiring it to go public. The developments came after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected Tata Sons’ application to deregister as a non-banking financial company on 11 September.
Earlier this week, the central bank also pre-emptively approached the courts, seeking to be heard in any matter filed in connection with the listing of Tata Sons. The RBI’s firm stance on the listing lifted prices of Tata Group stocks. It also put the spotlight on Tata Sons, which over the last seven years has received about ₹1.67 trillion in dividends from group companies and invested ₹1.16 trillion in them.
Numbers talk
25 basis points: The amount by which the US central bank increased its benchmark , to 3.75-4%. This is the first time it has raised rates since July 2023, and another 25 basis points hike is predicted.
4.8%: This is the year-on-year in August, which rose to a 20-month high and stayed above the RBI’s medium-term target of 4% for the third consecutive month.
$1.4 billion: The funding raised by 281 companies in India’s semiconductor industry, with about half of the total flowing in since 2025, according to Tracxn data.
150%: The increase in daily charter hire rates for , to $250,000 from about $100,000, in the past two weeks amid escalating hostilities in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz.
5.4%: The year-on-year increase in the amount of freight loaded by the Indian Railways in August. Key sectors that saw an increase in demand were coal, iron ore, steel and fertilizers.
NSE lays anchor
The National Stock Exchange on Wednesday allotted shares worth ₹6,746 crore to anchor investors, ahead of its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO). The shares were allotted at ₹1,785 apiece, the upper end of the IPO price band. In all, NSE allotted shares to 189 anchor investors. The top 10 anchor investors include three life insurance companies, led by LIC, which received the highest allotment, accounting for 5.93% of the anchor issue with an investment of about ₹400 crore.
The list also included three sovereign funds from Norway, Abu Dhabi and Singapore. The NSE IPO opened to the public on 17 September and will close on 21 September.
Packed calendar
Formula 1 released its race calendar for 2027 on Wednesday, scheduling 24 races for the season. If the races are held as planned, the next season will match 2024 and 2025 for the maximum number of races held in an .
F1 had also planned for 24 races for the ongoing 2026 season, but the US-Iran war led to the cancellation of two races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. These two races are back on the 2027 calendar, kicking off the season. Other changes from 2026 include the return of races in Portugal and Turkiye, and an increase in the number of ‘sprint’ events—additional races run over one-third the race distance—to 10 from 6.
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