Rahul Gandhi accuses Modi government of opening door to UPI charges

Politics has heated up over UPI, the country's largest digital payments platform. Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has accused the central government of quietly opening the door to charges on UPI. He said charges could be levied on merchant payments above Rs 2,000, and that the burden would ultimately fall on customers. Gandhi also claimed there was pressure from the United States behind the move.

Gandhi drew attention to the issue in a post on X. He wrote that transactions above Rs 2,000 account for only 5 percent of total transactions, but make up nearly 65 percent of the total value of UPI transactions. He asked that if the government says no charge will be taken from customers, then where the charge levied on merchants would ultimately come from.

According to Gandhi, American payment companies have long opposed India's "zero-MDR" policy, which increases their costs. He alleged that the Modi government has now opened the way to changing policy in that direction. Citing the trade deal with the United States, Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

UPI has brought about a major change in the way payments are made in India. Under the current system, no charge is levied on UPI payments up to Rs 2,000, but the new system opens the way to charging merchant payments above Rs 2,000. A notification has been issued on this. The question is, if the customer is not being charged directly, who will pay this charge.

Two kinds of payments in the UPI system need to be understood. The first is person-to-person payment, such as sending money to a friend or family member, on which no charge is levied. The second is merchant payment, that is, sending money via UPI to a shop, company or business. If this transaction is above Rs 2,000, a charge will be levied on it.

The government claims that no charge will be taken from the ordinary customer. But Gandhi says the merchant will have to pay this charge and will ultimately pass the burden on to customers through prices. Gandhi has linked the entire matter to pressure from American companies and the changes taking place in India's free UPI system to attack the government. The government has dismissed the allegations of foreign pressure as false and misleading.

The central government has taken a clear stand on this. It has said it has no plan to charge transaction fees from the ordinary UPI user. UPI payments up to Rs 2,000 will remain free, and personal payments will also remain free. According to the government, any charge structure on payments by large merchants is not intended to burden UPI users directly, but to make the entire digital payment system stronger and sustainable in the long run.