NEW DELHI: The NCP (SP) on Monday demanded a complete rollback of the 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on specified UPI merchant transactions above Rs 2,000, calling the move a “direct assault” on small traders and shopkeepers.NCP (SP) state spokesperson Mahesh Tapase alleged that the decision reflected “double standards” by the Narendra Modi government, questioning why small merchants were being made to bear additional costs while large industrialists had benefited from loan write-offs, news agency PTI reported.The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has announced that a 0.4% MDR will apply from October 15 to specified person-to-merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, with the charge capped at Rs 300 per transaction. Person-to-person transactions will remain free. Payments to merchants up to Rs 2,000 and transactions covered under the zero-MDR framework for small merchants will also remain free.

Calls MDR a burden on small traders

Tapase said small traders, shopkeepers and street vendors had played a key role in building the country’s UPI ecosystem and questioned the rationale for imposing the charge on them.

“For years, this government told the nation that Digital India and UPI were gifts to the common man — free, instant and empowering. Now, the moment UPI becomes the backbone of India’s retail economy, the Modi government has quietly reached into the pockets of the very small businessmen who made it a success,” he said.He also alleged that the government was following “double standards” in financial matters, claiming that large industrialists had benefited from loan write-offs while small traders were being asked to bear additional costs.“This is not policy… This is betrayal,” Tapase alleged.