Top officials from the finance ministry, including the Secretary, DEA, and the CEA, deliberated with the parliamentary committee on finance, chaired by BJP MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, on issues concerning VDAs. During the panel meeting, Opposition MP NK Premachandran of the RSP asserted that the government’s decision to levy charges on UPI should be taken up for discussion, while Congress MP Manish Tewari raised the issue of GDP calculation. But the panel chairperson suggested that both these issues are not part of the meeting’s agenda.
After the meeting, Premachandran said, “It is a totally anti-people decision,” adding that lakhs and lakhs of such transactions take place every day and that the decision to levy a fee was “unilateral”. Echoing similar sentiments, Tewari said the proceedings of any parliamentary committee are privileged and that it would not be appropriate to comment on them. “But regarding UPI and the fact that there are going to be transaction charges levied, there is concern across the country and a sense of outrage also. So obviously, what agitates the people of the country does find reflection and articulation in parliamentary committee proceedings,” the Congress MP said.
In its report in March, the parliamentary panel, with Tewari, Premchandran and former finance minister P Chidambaram as its members, had advocated for “establishing a viable revenue mechanism is critical to ensuring the UPI ecosystem achieves financial sustainability without perpetually straining the government exchequer”. In the same report, the panel had also suggested that the government develop a “tiered, self-reliant revenue model”. It noted that the government incentive covers only 11% of UPI’s actual costs and 14% of potential MDR collections, creating a structural funding gap. On Tuesday, the government introduced a 0.4% fee on transfers worth more than Rs 2,000 made to merchants through UPI from October 15, while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions and small payments from any charge.
Talking with ET about the panel meeting, Mahtab said, “The issue of virtual digital assets has been discussed with the RBI, DEA, CBDT and licence holders so far. Several issues have come to our knowledge. Collectively, the panel will take the decision. The draft report is already in the making. We have further sought certain clarifications from the finance ministry and hopefully the report will be placed in Parliament during the winter session. He further said that UPI was not discussed during the meeting as it was not part of the agenda. However, following the reconstitution of the new committee, it may take up the issue.
Sources said that during the meeting, officials from the finance ministry reiterated their stand that cryptocurrency would not be in the interest of the Indian government or the Indian economy.
