India’s digital payments sector is set for a new regulatory era. The Payments Regulatory Board, chaired by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra, has been constituted with three of six members appointed by the central government. 

The change reduces the RBI’s exclusive control over payments at a time when fintech firms are pressing for the return of the merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions. Startups argue that the zero-fee model is unsustainable for high-volume transactions, creating pressure on their margins.

The strain is visible across markets. Zerodha, India’s largest retail broker, is weighing the introduction of fees for equity delivery trades. This comes after regulatory curbs on derivatives trading drove a 40% drop in brokerage revenues in the latest quarter. The move could reshape how retail investors approach equity markets.

Meanwhile, AI firms are taking cues from e-commerce. OpenAI has launched Instant Checkout within ChatGPT, starting with Etsy integrations and soon expanding to Shopify. The feature turns the chatbot into a shopping assistant with built-in payment options. OpenAI’s momentum is reflected in its surging revenues—$4.3 billion in H1 2025, already 16% above its total for 2024.

In China, DeepSeek has unveiled a large language model powered by a novel Sparse Attention mechanism, promising cheaper, more efficient handling of long-context tasks.