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By:

Sumit Ranjan Das

21 August 2024 at 4:08:59 pm

UPI Must Stay Free

AI Generated Image Yesterday, I went to my neighbourhood shop to buy aloo chop and vegetable chop to eat with muri. I reached for my phone to pay by UPI, as I do for almost everything. The shopkeeper stopped me. “This is the last time we’ll accept UPI. From tomorrow, CASH ONLY.” I didn’t argue or explain that payments up to Rs. 2,000 remain free. It would have been a waste of breath. So I let it go, but I kept thinking about it on the walk home because I think I know what he was afraid of....

UPI Must Stay Free

AI Generated Image Yesterday, I went to my neighbourhood shop to buy aloo chop and vegetable chop to eat with muri. I reached for my phone to pay by UPI, as I do for almost everything. The shopkeeper stopped me. “This is the last time we’ll accept UPI. From tomorrow, CASH ONLY.” I didn’t argue or explain that payments up to Rs. 2,000 remain free. It would have been a waste of breath. So I let it go, but I kept thinking about it on the walk home because I think I know what he was afraid of. Picture a vegetable vendor with a pushcart at the corner of your lane. Call him Ramesh. He studied up to Class 8. Two years ago, he put a QR code on his cart because someone told him one thing: “Bhaiya, UPI is free. The money comes straight to your bank.” That one sentence did more for Digital India than any seminar. No card machine, no fee, no paperwork. Now tell Ramesh that a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) may apply to specified transactions above Rs. 2,000, subject to exemptions. He won’t argue. He will put up a board: CASH ONLY. MDR is the fee a merchant pays to accept a digital payment, and UPI has been free for merchants since 2020. The new framework proposes a fee of 0.4 per cent on specified merchant transactions above Rs. 2,000, with a cap of Rs. 300 on transactions above Rs. 75,000. Payments up to Rs. 2,000 remain free. Person-to-person transfers are not covered, and under the announced plan, customers are not charged directly. On a Rs. 10,000 merchant payment, the merchant would pay Rs. 40. Small merchants receiving less than Rs. 1,00,000 a month through UPI were proposed to be exempt. One report adds that the committee was reportedly considering exempting businesses with annual turnover of up to Rs. 40 lakh. On October 13, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said the fee, due to be implemented on October 15, would be introduced immediately after Diwali, on a date to be notified separately. The decision merley postpones the fee. Consider Ramesh again. Suppose he sells Rs. 5,000 worth of vegetables a day, mostly through payments of Rs. 30 to Rs. 300. That amounts to around Rs. 1,50,000 a month, or roughly Rs. 18 lakh a year. Every one of his payments is below Rs. 2,000, so under the proposal, they remain free. But his monthly receipts exceed Rs. 1 lakh, which means he cannot simply assume that the small-merchant exemption covers him. Who will tell him? Who will explain it in Bengali, Hindi or Maithili, at his cart, in two minutes? A vendor who cannot understand the rules will choose the option that feels safest: cash. Cash is not the enemy. But for a small merchant, it also means hunting for change and losing customers who do not have it, facing the risk of theft, loss and counterfeit notes, spending time counting, storing and depositing money, and having fewer digital records to show a bank when seeking credit. “Free” does not mean UPI costs nothing to run. Security, fraud control, banking systems and customer support all require money. In March 2025, the Union Cabinet approved an incentive of Rs. 1,500 crore for low-value BHIM UPI merchant transactions for the financial year 2024–25. Genuine welfare must never be treated as a piggy bank. Every rupee, whether spent on welfare or infrastructure, should deliver greater value. Five measures would help keep UPI simple. First, person-to-person UPI transfers must remain free. Sending money to family should never come with an unexpected charge. Second, protection for small merchants must be straightforward. Thela-walas, tea stalls and kirana shops need one clear exemption, not five clever ones. Third, UPI must be funded transparently. The government and relevant institutions should publish what it costs to run the system, how much public money supports it, how much any proposed fee collects and what results follow. Fourth, the rules must be explained in local languages. A one-page notice or a short voice message through a payment app would reach Ramesh faster than a 20-page circular. Finally, the impact must be measured before any fee is extended. Changes in small-merchant acceptance and transaction volumes should guide the next step. India did not build UPI by making it clever. It built it by making it simple and free. (The writer is a Cost and Management Accountant and founder of TaxoDas. Views personal.)

Govt lost moral authority: Gehlot on Trump's Indo-Pak mediation claims

PTI
May 13, 2025
2 min read


New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday claimed the government has lost moral authority in the wake of US President Donald Trump announcing a "ceasefire" between India and Pakistan in the midst of hostilities and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify the issue.


At a press conference at the party headquarters here, former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said people across the country feel that the Indian armed forces were going strong and could have given a befitting lesson to Pakistan to ensure it did not harbour terrorists or their camps in future.


He claimed the BJP has been rattled by the public sentiment over the sudden halt in military action and hence announced country-wide 'Tiranga Yatras' to placate the public. But people have now realised their "true colours", the veteran Congress leader said.


Gehlot also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on Monday evening as "disappointing" and said he failed to clarify Trump's mediation claims. He also asked whether the government was under "any pressure" from the United States.


The Congress leader posed several questions to the prime minister on why he was not responding to claims of the US president.


Looking to corner Modi further, Gehlot sought his clarification on whether India has accepted a third-party mediation on Kashmir and claimed that the US has internationalised the issue.


Gehlot also reiterated the Congress' demand for a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue and a PM-chaired all-party meeting.


"The manner in which the ceasefire was announced, this government has lost the moral authority and moral courage to rule," Gehlot told reporters, adding that people feel this was an opportunity for the government to teach Pakistan a lesson.


"This was a golden opportunity for himself, the government and the country but it has been lost by the sudden announcement of a ceasefire," he added.


Gehlot said the opposition has been demanding a Parliament session where the government can spell out its thoughts and policy in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. "What pressure is the government under that the US intervened and claimed mediation," he posed.


The senior leader said the Army was performing well and could have taught Pakistan a lesson in never dreaming of indulging in terrorism again.


Further action by the armed forces would have deterred Pakistan from allowing terror camps in its territory, Gehlot said.


He said Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation on Monday, "but he disappointed". The country is not unable to grasp the "sudden ceasefire" because it was completely confidential, he asked.


Noting that the armed forces did a great job by targeting terrorist hideouts and its action was praised around the world and the country salutes them.


Gehlot also recalled the 1971 war, saying America had exerted pressure on India at that time too.


"But we never bowed down and divided Pakistan into two. Even during the Shimla Agreement, we did not let any other country come between us.


"But now, the way Donald Trump is intervening, Prime Minister Modi and the government should respond to it. Why is the government not giving clarification on Trump's statements? What contract has Donald Trump taken?" he posed.

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