Skip to main content
Available in🇮🇳 India
The Visa Merchant Elevated Risk Program (MERP) is a Visa monitoring programme for the Asia Pacific region, enforced from October 2026. It identifies individual merchants showing clear, high-confidence signs of elevated risk: disproportionate fraud and disputes, abnormal activity and unusual decline behaviour. Unlike Visa’s portfolio-level programmes, MERP does not wait for a merchant to reach high volumes. A merchant can be identified early in its processing history. The Razorpay Superior plan significantly lowers your chance of being identified. We screen your international card payments for fraud before they reach Visa and cover fraud chargebacks on payments processed under the plan. Know more about how the Superior plan helps.

​
Who MERP Applies To

MERP applies to merchants accepting Visa payments through acquirers in the Asia Pacific region. This includes all Razorpay merchants in Asia Pacific. Visa evaluates each merchant individually and identifies it by its statement descriptor. Merchants most likely to be identified are those:
  • Seeing sudden spikes in transaction count or volume, or activity at unusual times.
  • Seeing a rise in fraud reports, disputes or card declines.
  • Processing activity that does not match the business they were onboarded for.

​
Consequences of a MERP Identification

If Visa confirms an identification, the outcome can range from penalties of up to USD 50,000 to losing the ability to accept card payments. We have a fixed window to respond to Visa after an identification. If we ask you for information, respond within the timeline in our request so we can contest the identification where the evidence supports it.

​
How the Superior Plan Helps

MERP identifications are driven by fraud and disputes. The Superior plan helps you accept more international card payments while tackling fraud at the source.
  • Fraud screening: Our risk engine checks every international card payment on the Superior plan and blocks high-risk payments before they reach Visa. Fewer fraudulent payments mean fewer fraud reports and fraud chargebacks, the core signals behind a MERP identification.
  • Ongoing monitoring: We continuously monitor your fraud, dispute and decline signals on international payments.
  • Fraud chargeback cover: If a fraudulent payment does get through, we cover the fraud chargeback on payments processed while the Superior plan was active.
Handy TipsA payment is covered only if it was processed while the Superior plan was active on your account.

​
Reduce Your MERP Risk

Moving to the Superior plan is the most direct way to lower your MERP risk. Superior takes care of fraud, but service chargebacks still count towards MERP. These come from customers who, for example, did not receive their order, were not happy with it or forgot about a subscription. The practices below help you keep them low on international payments:
  • Delivery: State timelines before checkout, flag delays with a refund option, ship with tracking, take a signature for high-value orders and keep stock levels accurate.
  • Product and pricing: Use accurate descriptions and images, show the full price including taxes and shipping, publish a clear refund policy and keep a check on products that draw a lot of disputes.
  • Subscriptions: Confirm billing terms upfront, make cancellation easy and send reminders before trials convert and before renewals (7 days before a yearly renewal, 2–3 days before a monthly one).
  • Recognisable payments: Use a clear statement descriptor, a support contact and clear receipts.

​
If You Are Identified Under MERP

Visa notifies our acquiring bank and we contact you by email. What follows:
  1. Investigation: We review your activity and may ask for business details, invoices for goods sold, fulfilment proof or transaction receipts. Respond within the timeline in the request.
  2. Contest or remediate: Where the evidence supports it, we contest the identification with Visa. Either way, we may need a remediation plan, which can require changes from you.
  3. Chargebacks: For several months after an identification, issuers can raise fraud chargebacks on past payments that were reported as fraud. These are debited from your balance.
  4. Network penalties: If Visa levies a non-compliance assessment for your identification, we may pass it on to you.
  5. Ongoing monitoring: We may apply limits, reserves or added checks on your international payments, or suspend them, until risk returns to normal.