“From ‘Digital India’ to ‘Pay More India’”: Tony targets Modi Govt
JAMMU: Senior Congress leader and former DDC Suchetgarh Taranjit Singh Tony has launched a scathing attack on the Modi government over the newly introduced UPI Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), alleging that the government is slowly turning the promise of Digital India into a system of additional financial burdens on businesses and the common people.
“First, the Modi government told the country to go digital. It encouraged every shopkeeper, trader and citizen to abandon cash and embrace digital payments. Now, after making UPI an indispensable part of everyday commerce, it is opening the door to charges on merchant transactions. This is nothing but a ‘Wasooli India’ model disguised as Digital India,” Tony said.
Under the new framework, a 0.4% MDR will apply to specified person-to-merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, subject to prescribed caps and exemptions. The Centre has clarified that ordinary person-to-person UPI transactions remain free and that MDR is not a government tax.
Tony said the issue was not merely about the terminology of “tax” or “MDR”, but about who ultimately bears the cost of digital commerce.
“Call it MDR, fee, commission or anything else—the fundamental question remains: who will ultimately pay for it? When transaction costs rise for businesses, especially traders and service providers, the economic burden does not simply disappear. It can affect the cost of doing business and eventually the consumer,” he said.
Tony accused the Centre of repeatedly presenting policies as relief measures while, according to him, creating new financial pressures elsewhere.
“First promote UPI. Make the country dependent on digital payments. Then introduce a new cost structure. This is not the Digital India people were promised,” Tony said.
He demanded complete transparency from the government regarding the financial impact of the new framework on traders, businesses and the wider digital-payment ecosystem.
“The government must stop playing with words and clearly explain the economics. Digitalisation should reduce friction and costs—not become another avenue for extracting money from the economy. Small traders and ordinary businesses deserve certainty, not constantly changing charges and rules,” Tony asserted.
Tony said Congress would continue to question policies that, in his view, increase the financial burden on businesses and ordinary citizens.
“Digital India must mean convenience, transparency and affordability—not ‘Wasooli India’. The government cannot first make people dependent on a system and then keep changing the cost of using it,” Tony said.