The Congress on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) accused the government of giving in to a U.S. demand to get rid of zero Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) and charge for UPI , and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “redefined NOTA – Narendra’s Ongoing Trump Appeasement”.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh also asked whether the government move on MDR was done to enable U.S. card companies to compete with UPI. “Here, the Modi government has given into a U.S. demand to get rid of zero MDR and charge for UPI. The U.S. It is not a charge on customers making UPI payments.
Noting that the estimated cost of running the entire UPI ecosystem is around ₹20,000 crore annually, Mr. Ramesh said this is less than 10% of what the RBI has been transferring to the Union Government in the past few years so as to show healthy public finances for the Modi government.
Ramesh said. “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. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the levy was “once again surrender” by a “compromised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi to American pressure. The BJP hit back, accusing the Congress of spreading “fake news”, saying the government had made it absolutely clear that MDR charges would not be levied on consumers.
Trade Representative earlier this year criticized UPI for being free and having driven out Visa and Mastercard,” Mr.
House of Representatives is set to vote on a Bill that introduces 100% tariffs on India. The Trump regime has also been cracking down on Indian immigrants and making tougher laws against them, Mr.
Ramesh said on X . He said that tomorrow the U.S.
