Traders body writes letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, RBI against charges on digital payments
India Today
The Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) wrote a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the RBI against levying charges on digital payments.
Brijesh Goyal, the chairman of the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) said the trader’s body wrote a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against the preparations made to levy charges on digital payments.
According to the CTI, India has joined the list of most digital payment countries with a major part of the population making payments through Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
However, the RBI has now started work on the process of levying charges on the payment and sought public opinion in this regard. Citizens can send in their idea by filling out the form or sending it to the official mail address of RBI by October 3, 2022.
ALSO READ | OTT platforms may upend multiplexes' run soon, set to be a Rs 12,000-cr industry by 2023
Brijesh Goyal said the CTI believes that there should not be any kind of fee on digital payment as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself campaigned for the adoption of the online payment mode under 'Digital India'. He said, “PM Modi himself launched the 'BHIM' UPI app. Many companies like Google Pay, Paytm, PhonePe also started offering UPI services. Now people don't have to go to the bank.”
Goyal opposed the idea of imposing charges on digital payments and said doing so will affect transactions and people will be forced to stand in line at ATMs and banks again.
CTI general secretary Vishnu Bhargava said that traders have also accepted UPI and digital mode and lakhs of transactions take place everyday. He said many traders are worried and levying charges would mean that they have to return to the old cash mode of transactions again.
