Banks and govt. should bear UPI charges, say merchants
Traders' associations are protesting the introduction of a 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI transactions exceeding ₹2,000. They argue that these costs should be absorbed by banks or the government rather than passed on to consumers.
Why it matters
The debate over transaction fees impacts the adoption of digital payment systems and the cost of living for consumers.
Traders associations organised awareness programmes across the district on Monday to highlight the impact of the proposed merchant discount rate (MDR) charges to be collected from the traders/businessmen/merchants from October 16 onwards by the banks before settling the transaction amounts collected through UPI mechanism into the respective accounts of the merchants/traders/business house.
While a section of traders in Thanjavur district suggested that the charges to be levied on payments through united payment interface (UPI) for transactions of over ₹2,000 be borne by banks and governments, another section of traders demanded that the UPI payments irrespective of the transaction amount should remain free.
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