At a Parliamentary panel meeting, many MPs belonging to the Opposition parties slammed the Union government's decision to charge a fee on UPI payments above Rs 2000 to merchants. Calling the move 'anti-people', they pointed out that the entire population in the country will be affected.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Bhartruhari Mahtab said that some MPs raised the issue at the meeting and said that it may be taken up at the next meeting of the panel.
RSP MP NK Premchandran, who is a member of the committee, reiterated that the move is completely 'anti-people'.
Ending nearly six years of fully free UPI payments, the government on Tuesday introduced a 0.4 per cent fee on transfers worth more than Rs 2,000 made to merchants through UPI from October 15, while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions as well as small payments from any charge.
"Customers will not be required to pay any charge when making such payments through UPI," the finance ministry said in a statement, adding, "MDR is a charge within the merchant payment ecosystem. It is not a charge on customers making UPI payments."
"Also, individuals will continue to have unlimited free usage, with no monthly quotas, volume restrictions or tiered caps on free UPI transactions", it said.
With inputs from PTI
