Congress ‘jhooth ki dukaan’ spreading ‘fake news’: BJP

New Delhi: The BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress of spreading “fake news” about UPI transaction charges, saying the government has made it absolutely clear that merchant discount rate (MDR) charges will not be levied on consumers.

This came after the Congress attacked the Centre over its notification on UPI transactions, with Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleging that it has quietly paved the way for imposing fees on such transactions and that a “compromised” Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “once again surrendering” to pressure from the US. BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari hit back at the Congress, calling the opposition party a “jhooth ki dukaan (shop of lies)”.

“Congress is once again spreading fake news. 96 per cent of UPI merchant (P2M) transactions are Rs 2,000 or below, and they are 100 per cent charge-free. RuPay debit-card payments remain charge-free.

Consumers pay zero transaction charge. P2P UPI transactions remain completely free,” he said in a post on X. “The Government has made it absolutely clear: MDR charges will NOT be levied on consumers,” the BJP leader added.

In a gazette notification, the government has directed banks and payment system providers not to levy charges on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions of up to Rs 2,000 or on payments made through RuPay debit cards.

However, the government has not specified whether charges would apply to transactions above Rs 2,000, to be paid by merchants. So far, there has been no charge on UPI transactions, irrespective of the amount.

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