New Delhi: Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Santrupt Misra on Saturday urged the Central government to explore other methods of funding for infrastructure upgrades and cybersecurity in the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), while ensuring protection for small businesses and consumers.
On Friday, Odisha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and BJD President Naveen Patnaik had also raised concerns over the recently announced 0.4 per cent Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on certain UPI transactions above Rs 2,000, saying that the interests of the common man and small traders such as shopkeepers must be protected.
Speaking to reporters, Santrupt Misra acknowledged that UPI is a very “important innovation”.
The BJD leader said: “The question is not that it requires funding to create cyber security and improvement in technology platform, rather the question is how is it to be funded? Who pays for it? And how do we ensure that there is a sustainable investment into the process?”
“BJD’s stand is that the consumers and small businesses have to be protected,” Misra highlighted.
He added: “There can be many other avenues of funding this process, we have to explore all of that, rather than imposing small businesses with further charges.”
On Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi’s post on social media platform, that the Parliament Standing Committee on Finance “has not discussed the UPI tax proposal” that the Central government has recently announced; the BJD leader denied having any knowledge.
However, Santrupt Misra urged the Parliament Standing Committee Chairperson Bhartruhari Mahtab to clarify whether the committee has discussed the issue related to UPI or not and what exactly was the nature of discussion?
Moreover, he emphaised that the workings of the Parliamentary committees, “need to be more transparent in matters of public interest”.
“Public needs to know what exactly was discussed on a particular matter and why constructive ideas, if present, were not accepted?” he said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha Congress had strongly criticised the Union government over the issue, comparing the 0.4 per cent MDR on UPI transactions with the historic ‘Jizya tax’.
