New Delhi [India], September 16 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari accused the Congress of spreading "fake news" regarding transaction charges on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network, asserting that customers will not have to pay any additional charges while making digital payments.
Speaking to ANI, Bhandari described the Congress as a "historical opponent of digital transactions" and recalled how senior Congress leader P Chidambaram had previously questioned the benefits of UPI and whether common citizens could make digital payments.
"Look, the Congress Party has become a 'Naraz Fufa' party. And this is the same Congress Party that, when India led the world's digital financial revolution through UPI, P. Chidambaram at the behest of Rahul Gandhi, asked whether a poor man or a common citizen of this country could ever make digital financial transactions. So, Congress has historically been an opponent of digital financial transactions. And today, this Naraz Fufa party is spreading lies. Every common citizen today is making payments using a QR scanner, and every common citizen will continue to pay via scanners. No customer will have to pay any additional charge," he said.
Bhandari noted that around 90 per cent or more of all UPI transactions are below Rs 2,000 and said that even for transactions above the threshold, no additional charge would be levied on customers.
"Around 90 per cent or more of all transactions are below Rs 2,000. And even above that limit, no charge will be levied on the customer. Despite this, why is the Congress Party spreading fake news?" he asked.
Targeting Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the BJP spokesperson alleged that the Congress leadership has made it a routine practice to propagate false narratives.
"Nowadays, Rahul Gandhi has developed a habit: his team tells him every morning, 'Sir, you need to echo a lie today, either post a false tweet or issue a misleading statement on some issue.' However, the people of Rajasthan have shown Rahul Gandhi that while lies may echo, the roar of truth triumphs. In the exact same way, the ordinary citizens of this country are proving to Rahul Gandhi that they are actively using digital financial transactions; his lies regarding UPI will not work," he said.
He further claimed that UPI now accounts for nearly 50 per cent of global digital financial transactions and has expanded across 11 countries. Bhandari said the rapid international adoption of India's digital payments platform has created a "sense of inferiority" within the Congress ranks, which he alleged was driving criticism of UPI.
"No matter how much Rahul Gandhi lies, the reality remains that Congress opposed UPI digital transactions and is now spreading fake news. Today, citizens accounting for nearly 50 per cent of global digital financial transactions across 11 countries are using UPI, and this growth will continue. Perhaps it is this very success that creates a sense of inferiority in Rahul Gandhi and the Congress Party, driving them to spread lies about UPI," he said.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) on Tuesday introduced a new Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) framework, under which UPI merchant transactions above Rs 2,000 will attract an MDR of 0.4 per cent, while consumers will continue to transact free of cost using UPI.
The revised UPI MDR framework will come into effect from October 15, 2026, and will apply to select merchant transactions.