The BJP has challenged Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of new UPI rules by highlighting that Congress MPs themselves backed a revenue-based model, amidst political tensions over proposed charges on digital transactions.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has pushed back against Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the Centre over new rules on UPI payments, arguing that Congress MPs themselves had supported a revenue-based framework for the digital payments system in Parliament. According to reports by ANI and other Indian outlets, the government is pointing to a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance report that backed a tiered merchant discount rate, or MDR, model for UPI and said it should be notified and implemented without delay.
The committee, chaired by a member of Congress and including several other Congress MPs, said India’s digital payments network needed a viable way to recover costs if it was to remain financially sustainable. It noted the scale of the system, estimating roughly 15 billion UPI transactions a month and around 600 million new users, while warning that the present level of government support covered only a fraction of the industry’s costs. The report also called for a larger budgetary allocation to offset the zero-MDR policy on RuPay and low-value UPI transactions.
That has created an uncomfortable political split for the opposition. BJP figures have questioned why Gandhi is opposing a framework that, they say, was supported by his own party colleagues inside Parliament. The new Indian Express reported that the government has used the committee’s findings to counter criticism over the proposed charges, while insisting that any MDR system would be structured and limited rather than a blanket consumer fee.
Gandhi, meanwhile, has accused the Modi government of quietly opening the door to charges on UPI and has linked the move to alleged pressure from the United States. Reuters-style reporting in Indian media said the government has rejected that claim, while NDA allies have also dismissed it as baseless. Officials have said consumers will not directly bear MDR costs, and the BJP has argued that most UPI merchant transactions, especially those below ₹2,000, would remain unaffected.
Disclaimer: This article is intended to inform and educate, not to recommend or endorse any financial product, investment or strategy. Please consider your own financial circumstances and seek professional advice where appropriate before making financial decisions.
