UPI fee issue raised at finance panel meet

During a finance panel meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday, the issue of charges on UPI transactions was raised. Despite a parliamentary panel report in March emphasizing the need for a viable revenue mechanism to ensure the UPI ecosystem's financial sustainability without straining the government treasury, debate continued. Opposition MP NK Premachandran, from the RSP, called the government's decision to levy charges on UPI "totally anti-people," noting that lakhs of such transactions occur daily.

Congress MP Manish Tewari echoed this sentiment, expressing concern over the potential impact on the country's citizens. The parliamentary committee, chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, discussed virtual digital assets with the RBI, DEA, and CBDT, but concluded that UPI was not part of the meeting's agenda. The government had introduced a 0.4% fee on transfers above Rs 2,000 made to merchants through UPI from October 15, but explicitly excluded daily person-to-person transactions and small payments.