Amid escalating political war on UPI, Govt rejects Congress' allegation of 'external influence'

Vibha Sharma New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) Amid the escalating political slugfest over the BJP-led NDA's announcement to introduce a 0.4% Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on select UPI payments exceeding Rs 2,000, the Finance Ministry on Thursday dismissed Congress' allegations that US pressure influenced the decision, asserting that the latest NPCI guidelines do not offer any advantage to international credit cards over RuPay on the UPI platform. "Contrary to misleading claims made that MDR has been introduced under external pressure, introduction of MDR on select high-value transactions will enable more domestic companies to operate under UPI. Thus, the action of…