NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday stepped up its attack against the Centre and accused it of “giving into” United States’ demand to get rid of zero MDR and charge for UPI.In a social media post on X, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh dubbed the government’s decision to introduce merchant discount rate on UPI as “NOTA – Narendra’s Ongoing Trump Appeasement” and alleged that the move was aimed at helping US card companies compete with UPI.“Tomorrow, the US House of Representatives votes on a Bill that introduces 100% tariffs on India. The US Senate has already approved this draconian law. Meanwhile, the Trump regime has been cracking down on Indian immigrants and making tougher laws against them. H-1B visa costs have been increased and such holders could soon be deported immediately when out of a job. Such holders are mostly IT professionals,” Jairam Ramesh said.“Here, the Modi Govt has given into a US demand to get rid of zero MDR and charge for UPI. The US Trade Representative earlier this year criticized UPI for being free and having driven out Visa and Mastercard. Why 0.4% MDR? Is it because debit card MDR is also 0.4%? Is this being done to enable US card companies to compete with UPI?” he questioned.
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The Congress leader claimed that the estimated cost of running the entire UPI ecosystem is around Rs 20,000 crore annually, which he said is less than 10% of what the RBI has been transferring to the Union government in the past few years to show healthy public finances for the Modi government.“Is this going to make UPI ‘sustainable’ as the Govt claims? The estimated cost of running the entire UPI ecosystem is around Rs 20,000 crore annually. This is less than 10% of what the RBI has been transferring to the Union Govt in the past few years so as to show healthy public finances for the Modi Govt,” he said.“The PM has redefined NOTA – Narendra’s Ongoing Trump Appeasement,” the Congress leader added.Jairam Ramesh’s remarks came after the National Payments Corporation of India on Tuesday introduced a new MDR framework, under which UPI merchant transactions above Rs 2,000 will attract an MDR of 0.4%, while consumers will continue to transact free of cost using UPI.The revised UPI MDR framework will come into effect from October 15, 2026, and will apply to select merchant transactions.