Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Alok Kumar Dubey on Tuesday accused the Narendra Modi government of preparing the ground for imposing charges on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, saying such a move could increase the financial burden on consumers and small businesses.
Dubey referred to provisions under the amended Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, and claimed that while transactions up to Rs 2,000 have been given protection against charges, there was no similar explicit safeguard for transactions above the threshold.
He said the Rs 2,000 limit could potentially be altered in future, bringing a larger share of UPI transactions under a fee regime. Dubey argued that this would undermine the government’s earlier promotion of UPI as a major achievement in India’s digital payments revolution.
Citing FY 2025-26 figures, he said India recorded around 24,162 crore UPI transactions worth nearly Rs 314 lakh crore. According to him, transactions above Rs 2,000 accounted for about 4% of the total volume, or around 966.5 crore transactions, but represented nearly 66% of the total value, exceeding Rs 207 lakh crore.
Dubey said any charges on such transactions could ultimately be passed on to consumers by traders and businesses. He demanded that the Centre clearly state whether it has any plans to impose UPI charges in future.
He also questioned whether proposed policy changes were aimed at opening the digital payments sector further to foreign companies. Dubey urged the government to provide a clear legal guarantee that ordinary citizens would not be charged for UPI transactions, calling for greater transparency on the issue.