The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
No to Charges on UPI Transactions
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its strong opposition to the Union government’s proposal to levy of charges on UPI transactions.
Under the banner of Digital India, it was the Modi government that aggressively promoted digital payments and UPI (Unified Payments Interface) as a free public utility, with the Prime Minister himself repeatedly urging citizens, small traders and businesses to abandon cash and embrace digital transactions. The PM himself has featured in advertisements including that of a private payments company promoting UPI. In fact this promotion was even posed as a justification for demonetisation.
Now that the ordinary citizens have adopted this as the means of payment/transaction, the government is now seeking to convert that very public infrastructure into a source of revenue by proposing transaction charges. This amounts to a breach of public trust as the government all along maintained that UPI would remain free.
This move cannot be seen in isolation. Over the past decade, the people have been subjected to a steady increase in several banking-related charges – penalties for non-maintenance of minimum balances, higher charges for ATM transactions beyond prescribed limits, debit card maintenance fees, SMS alert charges etc. – have all made accessing essential banking services dearer.
The Polit Bureau demands the immediate withdrawal of the proposed legislation. UPI must remain a free, universal and a publicly accountable digital payment system accessible to all.