Gaurav Gogoi Clarifies Congress Stand on UPI Charges

Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has rejected reports that Congress members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance did not raise any dissent over the panel’s recommendation on Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for UPI transactions. Government sources said five Congress MPs Gaurav Gogoi, P. Chidambaram, Manish Tewari, Kishori Lal and K. Gopinath were present when the committee adopted its report on August 12. The report recommended exploring a tiered revenue model and MDR framework for UPI.

Gogoi, however, said the specific UPI fee proposal recently announced by the government was not discussed by the committee. He said the Finance Department did not have a specific proposal covering the rate, fee amount, ceiling or exemption slabs at the time of the meeting. Gogoi added that members had questioned the need for MDR but did not receive specific or satisfactory responses from government representatives. Congress has argued that the new UPI fee policy could affect small merchants, vendors and entrepreneurs.