Hyderabad, Sept. 24: Hyderabad District Congress Committee president Syed Khalid Saifullah demanded a rollback of the new UPI Merchant Discount Rate framework on Wednesday.
Saifullah sought details of consultations, representations and policy reasoning behind the change.
He raised the issue at a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan with TPCC spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin and other Congress leaders.
Saifullah said UPI had become part of everyday economic activity for millions of Indians.
Hyderabad DCC Questions UPI MDR Policy Change
Saifullah questioned why the earlier zero MDR policy was changed and who would benefit financially.
He also asked whether the new cost could eventually affect consumers through higher prices or reduced discounts.
Under the new framework, a 0.4 percent MDR will apply to specified person to merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 from October 15.
The charge will be capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 and above.
However, person to person transactions will remain free. Payments to merchants up to Rs 2,000 will also remain free.
The Finance Ministry has said around 96 percent of merchant UPI transactions will remain unaffected. It has also clarified that customers will not directly pay MDR.
Saifullah argued that merchants could still face recurring costs under the new system.
He cited a Rs 4,000 payment as an example and questioned whether businesses would absorb the Rs 16 MDR or recover it through pricing and discounts.
He demanded stronger enforcement and a grievance mechanism to prevent merchants from directly passing the MDR to customers.
Saifullah also questioned how MDR revenue would be distributed among banks, payment service providers and UPI application providers.
The Finance Ministry has said MDR is neither a tax nor a government charge. It will instead be distributed among participants in the payment ecosystem.
Saifullah also referred to concerns raised by the United States about India’s electronic payment policies.
He said such representations warranted greater disclosure about the policy process. However, the Finance Ministry has rejected claims that external pressure influenced the MDR decision.
Saifullah further referred to separate political controversies involving references to Indian political figures in Epstein related records.
He said Congress was not presenting those developments as proof that they caused the UPI policy change.
Instead, he demanded that the Centre publish the policy trail and disclose representations received from banks, payment companies, industry bodies and foreign governments.
Saifullah said the Hyderabad DCC supported the Congress demand for withdrawal of the new MDR framework.
He also called for greater scrutiny of any policy change affecting UPI and small businesses.
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