Keralam BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar slammed Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his criticism regarding Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction charges, asserting that the government’s updated framework safeguards small businesses and everyday consumers while maintaining India’s digital payment ecosystem as the world’s most cost-effective network.
Clarifying the nature of the regulatory mechanism concerning Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges, Chandrasekhar said that the arrangement has been designed to sustain digital infrastructure without burdening ordinary users or small-scale merchants.
“It is simply a new dispensation brought forth by the minister and the government that essentially protects small businesses and consumers from any charges but levies a nominal charge on transactions between an individual and a merchant,” Chandrasekhar told ANI.
He pointed out that UPI continues to outperform international payment rails by a wide margin.
“UPI remains today one of the world’s least expensive, most responsive, and biggest ecosystems for digital payment. It is by far larger than Visa, Congress does what Congress does best, which is being negative and ignoring the opinions of its own MPs,” he said.
A fierce political tug-of-war has erupted over the revised Unified Payments Interface (UPI) Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework, drawing a sharp contrast between the ruling dispensation and the Opposition.
While the Central government maintains that digital payments remain entirely free for citizens, warning that imposing merchant costs onto consumers is illegal and a criminal offence, the Congress-led Opposition has termed the move a “betrayal” and a “UPI tax,” alleging that the Modi administration has capitulated to American pressure to benefit foreign payment corporations.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “lied down due to American pressure” and imposed a “tax” on UPI.
In a video message posted on X, Rahul Gandhi said, “Indira ji was once asked whether she leans left or right, and her response was, ‘I don’t lean left, I don’t lean right, I stand straight. Modi ji has a completely different concept. He’s neither left nor right; he has decided to lie down straight and prostrate himself in front of Donald Trump. He’s put a tax on every single Indian person by taxing UPI and giving a huge amount of money to the United States. Modi ji, please stop lying down in front of the United States. Have a spine, stand up and take back the UPI tax.”
Centre has said UPI will continue to remain completely free for all person-to-person transactions, irrespective of the amount transferred.
Payments to merchants up to Rs 2,000, along with transactions covered under the zero-MDR framework for small merchants, will also remain free. Consequently, approximately 96% of all P2M transactions will remain unaffected. MDR will apply only to specified merchant transactions above Rs 2,000.