The Congress party has criticized the Union government for introducing charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions above Rs 2,000, alleging it as an example of 'Narendra’s Ongoing Trump Appeasement'. The opposition leader Rahul Gandhi urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘have a spine’ and ‘stop lying down in front of the United States’, claiming that the prime minister had ‘taxed’ every Indian to give a ‘huge amount of money’ to the US.
On Monday, the Union government announced that UPI transactions to merchants valued above Rs 2,000 will attract a merchant discount rate of 0.4%. This fee is typically charged to businesses by banks to cover the costs of processing transactions and can range between 1% and 3% for credit card payments and up to 0.9% for debit card transactions.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh questioned whether the move was a means to allow United States’ card companies to compete with UPI payments in the Indian market. He alleged that the prime minister had ‘taxed’ every Indian to give a ‘huge amount of money’ to the US, citing earlier criticism by the US trade representative against UPI for being free and driving out visa and mastercard.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate alleged that Indians were being forced to pay charges on UPI transactions because the government was ‘surrendering to American pressure’ and wanted to help US companies increase their valuations. She pointed out that Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay together command more than 86% market share of UPI payments in India, and claimed that the charges will help them increase their valuations.
The Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that the government’s ‘surrender’ by introducing the charges was an example of its ‘meekness’. Other Opposition parties also criticized the new charges on UPI transactions, with the Aam Aadmi Party describing it as part of Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government’s ‘new loot policy’ and an example of ‘Trump’s pressure on PM Modi’s decisions and his direct influence over India’s internal matters’.
Source:
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