New Delhi: Opposition MPs on Wednesday described as "anti-people" the government's decision to levy a fee on UPI payments above Rs 2000 to merchants and raised the issue at a meeting of a Parliamentary Standing Committee, saying there is a "sense of outrage" across the country.

Some opposition MPs also expressed concern at the meeting of the panel over the methodology adopted for calculating GDP growth, which was registered at 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2026-27 fiscal year.

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Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Bhartruhari Mahtab said that some MPs raised the issue at the meeting and it may be taken up at the next meeting of the panel.

Mahtab said the UPI issue was not part of the proceedings in Wednesday's meeting.

"But concerns were expressed. As the tenure of the existing committee is coming to an end in the month of October, I believe the new committee will be taking it up," he said.

RSP MP NK Premchandran, who is a member of the committee, said the entire population of the country would be affected by the government's decision to levy a fee on payments of above Rs 2000 to merchants.

"It is a totally anti-people decision," he said. Premchandran said lakhs and lakhs of such transactions take place every day and the decision to levy fee was "unilateral".

Congress MP Manish Tewari said the proceedings of any parliamentary committee are privileged, and it is not appropriate to comment on them.

"But with regard to UPI and the fact that there are going to be transaction charges levied, there is concern across the country and a sense of outrage also. So obviously, what agitates the people of the country does find reflection and articulation in parliamentary committee proceedings," he said.

Ending nearly six years of fully free UPI payments, the government on Tuesday introduced a 0.4 percent fee on transfers worth more than Rs 2,000 made to merchants through UPI from October 15, while explicitly ring-fencing everyday person-to-person transactions as well as small payments from any charge.

"Customers will not be required to pay any charge when making such payments through UPI," the finance ministry said in a statement, adding, "MDR is a charge within the merchant payment ecosystem. It is not a charge on customers making UPI payments."

Also, individuals will continue to have "unlimited free usage, with no monthly quotas, volume restrictions or tiered caps on free UPI transactions", it said.

On the GDP calculation issue, Tewari said the government needs to explain the methodology of calculating the GDP "because they have changed the base year".

"And when you change the base year, what are the indices that you have deleted? What are the new parameters that you have added? So obviously, the government needs to explain the method of calculating the GDP since there is a lot of concern with regard to what is the correct estimate of the GDP of the first quarter," the Congress MP said.

According to the government data released on August 31, the Indian economy grew 7.8 percent in the April-June period of the current fiscal year as against 6.9 percent a year ago. The opposition has been questioning the methodology adopted to calculate the GDP rate, alleging "fudging of the data".

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Mahtab said the panel also discussed the issue of Virtual Digital Assets (VDAs) and is expected to submit its report in Parliament.

"We had a series of discussions during the last one year. As I remember, the first meeting that we had on virtual digital assets was last September, 2025. In between, we have interacted with a number of stake holders, with RBI, with CBDT and with others who have registered themselves in different capacities to deal with virtual assets," he said.

The BJP MP, at the meeting on Wednesday, said there was a round-up discussion.

"We still have certain theories. The basic question that arises before this committee is, the government is not accepting virtual digital assets, does not want to regulate it, but not regulating it is also leaving greater scope for different types of indulgences," he said.

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