Congress Demands Withdrawal of New UPI MDR
The Congress sought public disclosure of consultations, representations and policy reasoning that preceded the decision.
Hyderabad: The Congress has demanded withdrawal of the new UPI merchant discount rate (MDR) framework and sought public disclosure of consultations, representations and policy reasoning that preceded the decision.
At a press conference, Hyderabad DCC chief Syed Khalid Saifullah and party spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin said the UPI had become part of the everyday life of crores of Indians and any major change in its cost structure required public scrutiny.
“The questions are why the zero-MDR policy was changed, who stands to financially benefit from this change and whether the cost will ultimately reach ordinary consumers,” he said.
The Congress leader also questioned who would financially benefit from the new revenue stream.
He said banks, payment service providers and dominant UPI applications would share MDR revenue and demanded that the Centre disclose projected collections and the revenue-sharing formula.
Demanding the rollback of the new MDR on higher-value UPI merchant transactions, Nizamuddin warned that the additional payment cost could move through the wholesale-retail supply chain and ultimately affect traders and consumers.
“Merely saying that the consumer will not be charged MDR does not settle the economic question. If the merchant has to bear a new cost on every eligible higher-value UPI sale, who eventually absorbs that cost,” he asked.
