New Delhi, September 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate on Wednesday said reports of some shops in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk market stopping UPI payments were “bound to happen”, arguing that customers would be reluctant to bear any additional costs associated with digital transactions.
Speaking to IANS, Shrinate said customers could increasingly turn to cash payments if they believed additional charges were being imposed on UPI transactions.
“This is bound to happen; this will happen. Because people are not going to pay extra money out of their own pockets. Today, this has happened in Chandni Chowk; tomorrow, it will happen across Delhi, and eventually across the country,” she said.
Shrinate said that if customers were required to pay extra for UPI transactions, they could choose cash instead.
“The UPI system that was created — if you have to pay extra money, you will pay it or you won’t. You will stop and pay in cash. The problem is that when demonetisation happened, cash was demonised. At that time, there was Rs 17 lakh crore in cash in the economy. Today, it is more than Rs 40 lakh crore, which is more than two and a half times higher,” she said.
She also questioned the government’s intentions and policies, alleging that its decisions were being influenced by US companies.
“We don’t understand the intentions and policy of the government. They don’t know what they are doing. They are doing this for the benefit of US companies and working under their pressure,” she told IANS.
The remarks came after the government announced on Monday that banks cannot impose charges on UPI transactions of up to Rs 2,000. A government notification also stated that no charges can be imposed on payments of up to Rs 2,000 made through RuPay-powered debit cards.
The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, rejected claims that changes to the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework for UPI were driven by foreign influence, stating that India’s digital payment decisions are taken independently.
According to the Finance Ministry, UPI payments between individuals will remain free irrespective of the amount. Merchant payments up to Rs 2,000 will also remain free, while small merchants covered under the zero-MDR framework will continue to be protected from MDR. The government said around 96 per cent of merchant transactions would remain unaffected.
The ministry has also clarified that MDR is a charge within the merchant payment ecosystem and is not a fee imposed on customers making UPI payments. Banks have been advised to ensure that merchants do not pass MDR costs on to customers, while UPI application providers have been barred from imposing platform fees or hidden charges.
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