top of page

By:

Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Fee Signal

The government’s decision to create a legal framework for levying charges on UPI transactions has understandably triggered concern, even though it insists that ordinary users and small merchants will continue to enjoy free payments. The proposed amendment does not impose a fee on UPI today. But it removes the statutory barrier to one being imposed in the future, making the government’s reassurance less than the final word. The government argues that this is a measure for UPI’s long-term...

Fee Signal

The government’s decision to create a legal framework for levying charges on UPI transactions has understandably triggered concern, even though it insists that ordinary users and small merchants will continue to enjoy free payments. The proposed amendment does not impose a fee on UPI today. But it removes the statutory barrier to one being imposed in the future, making the government’s reassurance less than the final word. The government argues that this is a measure for UPI’s long-term sustainability. The world’s largest real-time payments system, which processed 2,366 crore transactions worth Rs. 29.9 lakh crore in July alone, cannot indefinitely depend on subsidies as transaction volumes, cybersecurity requirements and infrastructure costs rise. A nominal Merchant Discount Rate on larger merchant transactions, it says, would help create a more sustainable ecosystem without burdening ordinary users. That argument has merit. But so does the concern that a payment system which became a national habit precisely because it was cheap and frictionless should not slowly acquire a price tag. Once the legal machinery for charging exists, there is no guarantee that the boundary between large merchants and small ones, or between merchants and consumers, will remain permanently fixed. The Finance Minister has clarified that any Merchant Discount Rate will apply only to a limited set of merchant transactions above a threshold and will be nominal, well below card-payment rates. The details will eventually be decided by the UPI and Services Steering Committee headed by the National Payments Corporation of India. In other words, there is no charge on the table for the ordinary UPI user today. But there is now a legal mechanism for charges to be introduced tomorrow. That is precisely why any alarm, though exaggerated, cannot simply be dismissed. The government, through its clarification, has reassured that UPI’s free-to-consumer model remains intact. The important issue is whether its financing model can evolve without undermining the habits that made it revolutionary. UPI succeeded partly because it made digital payments cheaper and simpler than alternatives. There is also a larger principle at stake. UPI is not merely another commercial payments platform. It is the product of public investment, regulatory architecture and private innovation. The state should therefore be wary of treating its sustainability as an ordinary market problem. The sensible answer lies between free-for-all subsidies and indiscriminate fees: transparent thresholds, genuinely low MDRs, strong protection for small merchants and an absolute firewall around ordinary consumers. The government should publish the economic case for any future charge, including its effect on merchants and consumers. UPI was built on trust as much as technology. The government is right to protect its remarkable achievement. It should remember that keeping UPI free is not merely a political promise. It is part of the product.

Come On, India, Let's Football!

When football’s new minnows dream big, India stands still.

The ongoing FIFA World Cup has produced one of the most compelling stories in modern football. Nations once dismissed as outsiders are now sharing the world’s biggest stage with traditional powerhouses. Tiny Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan are making their World Cup debuts. DR Congo has returned after more than five decades, while countries such as Iraq, Bosnia and Herzegovina, South Africa and New Zealand have also forced their way into the tournament.


The question every Indian football fan must ask is uncomfortable but unavoidable: if these nations can qualify, why can’t India?


This is not about population. India has over 1.4 billion people. Cape Verde has barely half a million. Curaçao has fewer than two lakh residents. Uzbekistan has around 37 million people; Jordan, about 12 million. India has every conceivable demographic advantage. Yet, when the World Cup begins, Indian fans once again become passionate supporters of Brazil, Argentina, England or Portugal because their own national team is nowhere to be seen.


For decades, Indian football administrators have found convenient excuses. Cricket’s dominance. Lack of infrastructure. Poor weather. Limited sporting culture. None of these explanations survive scrutiny anymore.


Croatia reached a World Cup final with a population smaller than Hyderabad. Morocco became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals in 2022. Japan and South Korea transformed themselves into global football powers through long-term planning. Now Uzbekistan, Jordan and Cape Verde have shown that determined football development matters far more than population size or GDP.


Governance Failure

The domestic football ecosystem remains fragmented. Grassroots development exists largely on paper. School football lacks continuity. Youth academies are too few and often disconnected from professional clubs. State associations function with varying degrees of efficiency, while the professional pyramid remains shallow. Coaching standards are improving but nowhere near the scale required for a country of India’s size. Most talented youngsters still have limited access to quality coaching before their teenage years, by which time the developmental gap with leading football nations has already widened.


The Indian Super League undoubtedly improved infrastructure, television visibility and professionalism. But a successful league does not automatically produce a successful national team. The league has too often prioritised short-term commercial interests over systematic player development. Young Indian footballers frequently struggle for meaningful playing time, while promotion and relegation uncertainties have weakened the competitive pyramid beneath the top division.


Another problem is the absence of a unified national football vision. Countries that qualify consistently work on 10- to 20-year roadmaps. India often changes direction with every administrative transition. Projects begin with great fanfare and quietly disappear before delivering results. Football development cannot depend on personalities; it requires institutions.


Talent identification is another glaring weakness. Millions of children play football across the Northeast, Goa, Kerala, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka and several tribal regions. Yet countless gifted players never enter structured development pathways. A nation of India’s scale should have thousands of certified scouts working across districts. Instead, talent frequently depends on luck rather than an organised system.


The roadmap is neither mysterious nor impossible. Football must become an integral part of school education, with structured inter-school and inter-district competitions. Every professional club should operate genuine youth academies linked to local communities. Coaching education must expand dramatically. State leagues should become stronger and financially sustainable. The national federation must function with transparency, stability and accountability. Above all, youth development, not administrative politics, must become the central mission.


The expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams has created more qualification opportunities than ever before. If India cannot qualify even under this expanded format, it will expose the depth of the crisis rather than the strength of the competition.


India has already proved in cricket, hockey, chess, badminton and athletics that excellence is possible when talent meets planning. Football should be no different.


The real tragedy is not that India has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup. The real tragedy is that after nearly eight decades of independence, with enormous resources and one of the world’s largest youth populations, India still lacks a credible pathway to get there.


Until administrators begin treating World Cup qualification as a national project rather than a distant dream, Indian football will remain exactly where it has been for generations—not on the pitch, but in the stands, cheering for someone else’s success.

Comments

bottom of page