New Delhi: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, September 28, refused to stay the Centre’s decision to impose a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on specified Unified Payments Interface (UPI) person-to-merchant transactions of over Rs 2,000, which is set to come into effect from October 15.
The court sought responses from the Centre and others on a plea challenging the levy and directed them to file their counter affidavits within four weeks.
The Centre told the court that 96 per cent of the people using the payment gateway are exempt from the charge. Observing that the issue was less legal and more technical, the court declined to interim-stay the move.
The public interest litigation (PIL), filed by advocate Anjan Datta, challenges the Centre’s September 14 notification and the MDR framework announced on September 15. It alleges the levy has been introduced without adequate statutory safeguards, transparency or public consultation. The bench comprised Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana.
Under the framework, a 0.4 per cent fee will apply on UPI payments to merchants above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 and above. Person-to-person transfers remain free of charge.
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