How to make a UPI QR code for your shop (free, step by step, 2026)

If you run a shop, a stall, a salon or a small clinic in India, you need one thing at the counter: a code that every customer’s phone can pay. Making it is free and takes about five minutes. What people get wrong comes before and after it: which UPI ID the code points to, whether a static code is enough, and how to stop someone pasting their own QR over yours.

This is a step-by-step guide for Indian shop owners.

The fact to hold on to: a UPI QR code contains your UPI ID, not your bank account number, and it can only ever start a payment to you. You never need to scan a code or enter a UPI PIN to receive money.

What a UPI QR code actually is

A UPI QR code is a picture of a short payment link. NPCI, which runs UPI, sets the format in its UPI linking specification: a upi://pay link carrying your UPI ID (pa), your name (pn), and optionally an amount (am) and currency (cu, for which the specification supports only INR). The same specification requires every UPI app to read these links from a QR code, which is why one code at your counter works with Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, BHIM and banks’ own UPI apps.

• It holds no secrets. It carries your UPI ID, the same address you’d share in a chat. UPI was designed so a payer never needs your account number or IFSC.
• It cannot take money. The customer approves each payment on their own phone with their own UPI PIN.

NPCI’s specification even describes the small-shop case: a one-person shop can print a static code with just its UPI ID and name, and the customer enters the amount after scanning. That is the code most shops need.

How to make a free UPI QR code for your shop

Step 1: Pick the UPI ID

Decide whether the code points at your personal UPI ID or a merchant (business) UPI ID. The comparison below helps. The code can only ever be as right as this one field.

Step 2: Copy it exactly

Find your UPI ID in your UPI app, usually on your profile or “receive money” screen, in a form like name@bankhandle. Copy and paste it: one wrong character either sends money to someone else or makes every scan fail.

Step 3: Generate the code

• From your business UPI app, if you’ve registered your shop with one. PhonePe Business, for example, offers QR stickers and standees, and Paytm for Business offers one QR code for all payment types.
• From a free generator. Enter your UPI ID in MoonQR’s free UPI QR code generator, add your shop name as the payee name, and leave the amount blank. Add your logo if you like and download PNG or SVG, with no sign-up.

Step 4: Test it with ₹1

Scan it with two or three different UPI apps and check the name and UPI ID on the payment screen. Then have someone send you ₹1 and confirm it arrives. Thirty seconds of testing can save a print run.

Step 5: Print it and fix it in place

Put it where customers stand to pay, secured so nobody can swap it or stick something over it. Keep a spare in the drawer.

Static vs dynamic UPI QR: which one your shop needs

	Static UPI QR	Dynamic UPI QR
What it is	One code for every payment	A new code for each bill
What’s inside	UPI ID and name (amount optional)	UPI ID, name, exact amount, transaction reference
Who types the amount	The customer	Nobody, it’s pre-filled
Where it comes from	A free generator or your business app	Billing software, a POS machine or a payment provider
Suits	Kirana stores, stalls, salons, home businesses	Supermarkets, billing counters, busy restaurants

NPCI’s own example of a dynamic code is a grocery store’s billing system generating a fresh QR for each purchase. The transaction reference (an order number or bill ID) is what lets that system tie each payment to its bill.

Verdict: if you write bills by hand or on a calculator, a static code is all you need. Dynamic codes pay off once you already run billing software that can make them.

Merchant vs personal UPI ID

Personal UPI ID

• What it is: the ID your app created when you linked your bank account, often your name or mobile number plus the app’s handle.
• Good for: starting today, free.
• Watch out for: shop takings mix with family transfers, so adding up the day means scrolling. A mobile-number ID shows your number to everyone who scans. And payments to a personal ID count as person-to-person transfers, so each customer’s ₹1 lakh-a-day person-to-person limit applies. (A merchant ID raises that ceiling only in a few selected categories, covered below.)

Merchant (business) UPI ID

• What it is: an ID issued when you register your shop with your bank or a business app such as Google Pay for Business, PhonePe Business or Paytm for Business.
• What you usually get: settlement tracking and often a speaker that reads each payment aloud, such as PhonePe’s SmartSpeaker or Paytm’s Soundbox.
• Watch out for: each provider has its own terms and fee schedule. Read both.

Your situation	Use
Just starting, a few UPI payments a day	Personal UPI ID (switch later)
The counter QR is how you get paid most days	Merchant UPI ID
You want a payment speaker at the counter	Merchant ID from a provider that offers one
You bill with software or a POS machine	Merchant ID with dynamic QR

One caveat: a business app’s QR can carry extra merchant fields (NPCI’s spec has optional slots for a merchant code and store and terminal IDs) that a code built from your UPI ID alone won’t include. If your provider’s reports depend on them, keep using the provider’s code, and test any new one with ₹1 first.

Printing a UPI QR standee that scans first time

• Leave the amount blank on a counter code, so one code covers every bill.
• Show your shop name as the payee name and in print above the code, with your UPI ID as text too, so a customer whose camera struggles can type it.
• Test the size from where your customer actually stands. If it needs a second try, print it bigger.
• Keep contrast high: a dark code on a light background, with the plain white margin around it left uncropped.
• Choose matte over gloss. Glossy lamination can reflect shop lights into the camera.
• Send the printer an SVG, not a screenshot. SVG stays sharp at any size.
• Fix it in a holder. A framed or fixed standee is much harder to swap or paste over than a loose card. Replace it as soon as it fades.

Limits and charges a shop should know

Limits. UPI’s person-to-person limit is ₹1 lakh a day; NPCI left it unchanged when it raised some merchant limits in September 2025. From 15 September 2025, payments to selected verified merchant categories, such as insurance, travel, loan repayments and jewellery, can go higher, up to ₹10 lakh a day in some categories (jewellery: ₹2 lakh per transaction, ₹6 lakh a day). For an everyday shop, the point is that a very large bill can hit the customer’s limit, so keep a second way to pay.

Charges. A finance ministry notification reported in September 2026 says banks and payment system providers cannot charge anyone for making or receiving a UPI payment of up to ₹2,000. In its 2026 monsoon session, Parliament also passed the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which, as The Wire and LiveLaw reported, opens the way for a merchant discount rate (MDR) to be charged on UPI payments. So payments above ₹2,000 could now carry a fee, depending on your provider’s terms. Check its current fee schedule rather than assuming every payment is free.

UPI QR safety: fake QR scams and how to stop them

One rule from NPCI is worth teaching everyone at your counter: scanning a QR code and entering a UPI PIN is only ever for paying, never for receiving.

Scam 1: The sticker over your code

A fraudster pastes their own QR over a shop’s real one, and customers who don’t check the name pay the fraudster. Fix: scan your own standee at least weekly and confirm the name and UPI ID are yours.

Scam 2: The fake “paid” screenshot

A “customer” shows a screen saying the payment went through. A screenshot is not proof of payment. Fix: confirm the payment on your own phone (app notification, bank SMS or payment speaker) before handing over goods. NPCI’s advice is to always check your UPI app’s in-app notification.

Scam 3: “Scan this to receive your money”

Someone sends a QR or link, on WhatsApp for example, promising a payment, refund or cashback. Scanning it and entering your PIN sends money out. Fix: never scan or enter a PIN to receive money.

If it happens

Call your bank, call the cyber fraud helpline on 1930, and report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal at cybercrime.gov.in, as soon as you notice.

Common UPI QR mistakes

Mistake 1: One wrong character in the UPI ID

Payments go to the wrong address or fail. Fix: copy and paste the ID, and test with ₹1 before printing.

Mistake 2: An amount baked into the counter code

A fixed amount pre-fills the same figure for everyone. NPCI’s spec makes the amount editable when the code doesn’t set one. Fix: keep fixed amounts for invoices and quotes.

Mistake 3: Your mobile number on display

A number-based UPI ID on a public standee shows your number to everyone. Fix: use a merchant ID, or a UPI ID that isn’t your phone number.

The 2026 reality

UPI handled more than 24 billion transactions worth about ₹29.4 lakh crore in September 2026 alone, according to NPCI. For a shop, the UPI QR is no longer an extra; it is how the counter works. The bigger question now is repeat orders: getting the customer who paid at your counter once to order again without walking in.

Where MoonProduct fits

• MoonQR’s UPI QR code generator is free: enter your UPI ID and shop name, leave the amount blank, add your logo, and download PNG or SVG. No sign-up.
• Solo for business is for shops that want to sell beyond the counter. Solo is an Android app where people order from nearby kirana, meat, juice and neighbourhood stores, and where you can list your items, chat with buyers and complete transactions inside the app.

To keep shop takings apart from personal spending, see UPI expense tracker apps in India and expense trackers that don’t connect to your bank. If you send quotes, the quotation format guide covers the layout, and a fixed-amount UPI QR on the quote lets the client pay the exact figure.

Making the code is the easy part. What protects your money is checking that it still shows your name.