{
  "id": 7838717,
  "title": "UPI charges row: Chidambaram among 5 Congress MPs who had backed revenue framework",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/16/upi-charges-row-chidambaram-among-5-congress-mps-who-had-backed",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-16T17:56:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/upi-charges-row-chidambaram-among-5-congress-mps-who-had-backed-revenue-framework/articleshow/134293943.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "As Congress MPs P Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Gaurav Gogoi, Kishori Lal and K Gopinath joined forces in a Standing Committee on Finance report, they called for a tiered Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) or revenue framework to ensure the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) ecosystem's long-term financial sustainability. The Committee, chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, stated that while the government's current incentive covers only 11% of industry costs and 14% of potential MDR collections, establishing a viable revenue mechanism is critical to avoid perpetually straining the government exchequer. The report emphasized that a tiered MDR framework, when notified and operationalized without delay, would allow payment service providers to invest in cybersecurity, fraud prevention, and network infrastructure.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}