5 Congress MPs, including P Chidambaram, supported MDR framework for UPI in Parliament

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) As Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre over its decision to “impose” fees on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions above Rs 2,000, five Congress MPs — P. Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Gaurav Gogoi, Kishori Lal and K. Gopinath — actually supported a tiered Merchant Discount Rate (MDR)/revenue framework for UPI in the Parliament.

This year, the Standing Committee on Finance pressed for a tiered MDR/revenue framework for UPI and said it should be notified and operationalised without delay.

Five Congress MPs, including former Finance Minister Chidambaram and former Union Minister Tewari, who were part of the Committee and were present on August 12 in the Parliament when the report was adopted, with no dissent recorded in the published minutes.

According to the committee, “establishing a viable revenue mechanism is critical to ensuring that the UPI ecosystem achieves financial sustainability without perpetually straining the Government exchequer”.

The Committee recommended that while the proposed three-year multi-year scheme and cashback components are necessary to democratise digital payments in untapped Tier 3-6 cities, the Department of Financial Services must concurrently explore a self-reliant, tiered revenue model.

The Committee also noted that, in pursuance of their earlier recommendations emphasising the imperative of a viable revenue model, legislative enabling provisions for a tiered MDR structure have been brought forward.

In the view of the Committee, while statutory enablement now exists to permit calibrated MDR on high-value transactions, any delay in notifying and operationalising this framework leaves payment service providers heavily dependent on inadequate subsidies, thereby threatening critical investments in cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and network infrastructure.

On Wednesday, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders rejected Rahul Gandhi’s concerns over UPI charges and his allegation that the decision was taken under pressure from the United States, calling the claim baseless and defending the Union government’s move.

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale said the decision concerning UPI transactions of up to Rs 2,000 was fair and would not create difficulties for small vendors and businesses.

He also dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the decision was taken because of pressure from the US, saying there was no connection between the two.

“Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that this step was taken under US pressure is completely baseless. Rahul Gandhi is adept at spreading falsehoods and habitually makes misleading claims on various issues. America has nothing to do with this decision,” Athawale said.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Gulam Ali Khatana also defended the Union government’s decision, while accusing the Congress of trying to create fear among people over the issue.

–IANS

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