‘Absolutely baseless’: Sitharaman rejects foreign influence claim over UPI MDR

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has dismissed as ‘absolutely baseless’ claims from the opposition that the choice to impose a 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on certain UPI transactions exceeding Rs 2,000 was made due to outside influence, asserting it was a decision made professionally within the payment ecosystem.

Sitharaman stated that the choice was entirely professional and made collaboratively by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), payment banks, and merchant banks, rather than being enforced by the government.