‘Why is Rahul opposing?’ Govt functionary says Chidambaram, 4 other Congress MPs backed UPI revenue framework
The functionary said five Congress MPs — P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Gaurav Gogoi, Kishori Lal and K Gopinath — were present when the panel adopted its report
The government of India defended its decision to implement a tiered Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions, despite opposition from Congress MP Rahul Gandhi. A senior government functionary revealed that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance had recommended a tiered MDR structure and called for its immediate implementation, noting that five Congress MPs, including former finance minister P Chidambaram, supported the framework.
Gandhi criticized the government's move to levy a fee on UPI payments above ₹2,000, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was bowing to US President Donald Trump and providing significant financial support to the US. The government argued that the tiered framework was necessary to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the UPI ecosystem, as current government incentives covered only a small fraction of the industry's operational costs.
The committee's recommendation was based on the need to find a viable revenue model for UPI, given that the current zero-MDR policy on RuPay and low-value transactions was not sustainable.
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