The merchant category code in a UPI QR

What mc is

mc is the optional UPI QR parameter that carries a merchant category code: exactly four digits, drawn from ISO 18245, the same classification scheme the card networks have used for decades. It says what kind of business the payee is:

upi://pay?pa=store@okaxis&pn=Daily%20Needs&mc=5411&cu=INR

The MCC system predates UPI entirely — it exists so that every payment system on earth can agree that 5411 means a grocery store without exchanging prose. UPI adopted it rather than inventing a new taxonomy, which is also why the same MCC appears in a BharatQR payload and on a card terminal receipt.

Common codes

A few of the well-established values:

MCC	Category
4121	Taxis and rideshare
4900	Utilities — electricity, gas, water
5411	Grocery stores and supermarkets
5812	Restaurants
5814	Fast food
5912	Pharmacies
7230	Salons and barbers
8011	Doctors and physicians
8220	Colleges and universities
8398	Charitable organisations

0000 is the unclassified value — what a code effectively is when it comes from a personal VPA with no merchant onboarding behind it. P2P-style codes made by individuals either omit mc or carry 0000, and the ecosystem treats them as person-to-person transfers rather than merchant payments.

What the MCC actually changes

The category is not decorative. Things keyed off it, directly or downstream:

• Classification of the payment. The MCC is a large part of how a transaction is treated as P2M rather than P2P, which determines which limit and fee regime applies.
• Fee policy. UPI P2M carries zero MDR as of 2026, but fee and interchange policy has historically been written per category — when pricing rules change, they change by MCC. On card rails the MCC sets the interchange bracket outright.
• Limits. Certain categories have their own transaction caps in the NPCI framework — higher ceilings exist for some verified merchant categories, with the binding numbers living at your bank and PSP.
• App behaviour. Payment apps use the category for statement labelling, offers, cashback eligibility and features gated to merchant payments. Some UPI-Lite and offline flows also depend on merchant classification.

The rule: do not choose your own

If a PSP issued your merchant VPA, it assigned your MCC during onboarding, based on your declared business. Use that value. Encoding a different one in your own QR does not reclassify you — at best it creates a mismatch between the code and the account behind it, and misdeclared MCCs are a thing acquirers audit for, because category determines pricing.

If you are an individual with a personal VPA, the honest value is none at all: omit mc, as the small-shop setup does. The parameter is validated when present — anything other than exactly four digits is rejected by our generator, and you can decode any code to check what a standee actually carries.

For fleets of codes — one per branch or per till — keep the MCC constant and vary tn or tr instead, generating the set in bulk.

FAQ

What is the mc parameter in a UPI QR code?

It is the merchant category code: a four-digit ISO 18245 value classifying the payee's business, such as 5411 for grocery or 5812 for restaurants. It is optional, and PSPs assign it during merchant onboarding.

What MCC should I use for a personal UPI QR code?

None. Omit the mc parameter. Merchant category codes belong to merchant accounts; a personal VPA without onboarding is effectively unclassified, and encoding a category you were never assigned only creates a mismatch.

Does the MCC affect UPI charges?

Not today for most merchants — UPI P2M carries zero MDR as of 2026. But fee and limit policy is written per category, so the MCC is what determines your treatment whenever pricing rules change.

Can I change the MCC in my QR code?

You can encode any four digits, but you cannot reclassify yourself. The category that governs your account is the one your PSP assigned; a different value in the code creates an auditable mismatch, not a new rate.