New Delhi: The Congress party has accused the United States of being behind the central government's decision to levy charges on UPI transactions.
In this regard, in an X post released by Congress party General Secretary and spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, he said, “The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill changes the current status of UPI transactions, which have so far been free of charge. It will make it easier to impose charges on all kinds of digital money transactions in the future.
The burden of this will ultimately fall on ordinary people. From now on, they may have to pay a fee to use the UPI app.
It is completely wrong for the Modi government to claim that this is the only way to financially sustain the UPI system. The Reserve Bank has sufficient financial resources to financially sustain and maintain the UPI system.
In 2025-26, the Reserve Bank transferred surplus funds of Rs. 2.86 lakh crore to the government. Of this, only a small portion would be enough to maintain this digital public infrastructure.
In fact, the reason behind this amendment may be even more concerning. The U.S. Trade Representative had criticized UPI and RuPay for being used without any transaction fees. He had also criticized this as driving U.S. payment service platforms such as Visa and Mastercard out of the market. It is in response to this that the central government has taken this step,” he said.
What is the background? - With the aim of making amendments to the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, the Income Tax Act, 2025, and the Finance Act, 2026, the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha today.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced this bill in the Lok Sabha today (Aug. 6). The ruling party requested a debate on the bill. However, as the opposition parties engaged in continuous disruptions, the bill was passed by voice vote without discussion.
The government plans to amend the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, to empower the government to allow banks and other service providers to levy charges on transactions made through UPI and other electronic payment methods.
This amendment will remove the legal provision that prevents banks and other service providers from charging fees for electronic payment methods.
As a result, banks and other service providers may be able to levy charges on UPI transactions. Experts have said that this charge will not apply to transactions between individuals, and will apply only to monetary transactions between consumers and companies, and between companies.
