‘Have a spine’, roll back charges on UPI payments, Rahul Gandhi to Modi
The Aam Aadmi Party said the charges were part of the BJP government’s ‘new loot policy’.
Black News 
Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that the Union government roll back charges on Unified Payments Interface transaction, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “have a spine” and “stop lying down in front of the United States”.
Gandhi alleged that the prime minister had “taxed” every Indian to give a “huge amount of money” to the US.
On Monday, the Union government said that UPI transactions to merchants valued above Rs 2,000 will attract a merchant discount rate of 0.4%.
Merchant discount rate is a fee charged to businesses by banks to cover the costs of processing transactions. The rate typically ranges between 1% and 3% of the transaction value for credit card payments and can be up to 0.9% for debit card transactions.
Modi ji, roll back the UPI tax. Now. pic.twitter.com/IIt46zMgCG
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 16, 2026
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh questioned whether the move was a means to allow United States’ card companies to compete with UPI payments in the Indian market.
“The Modi government has given into a US demand to get rid of zero [merchant discount rate] and charge for UPI,” Ramesh said in a social media post. “The US trade representative earlier this year criticised UPI for being free and having driven out visa and mastercard.”
“The PM has redefined NOTA –...
