They claimed that the charge will effectively double after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is applied
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar : Traders from Marathwada and several parts of state will observe a ‘No UPI Day’ on Friday to protest against the 0.4% charge on UPI transactions. Vijay Jaiswal, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-based governing council member of Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (MCCIA), said over 1.3 lakh traders would participate in the token protest. “The 0.4% merchant discount rate (MDR) on specified person-to-merchant (P2M) payments above Rs 2,000 has triggered strong resentment among the trading community. After 18% GST and other processing levies, the effective deduction per transaction would be significant. “We were assured at the central level that the issue would be examined and a solution would be found by Oct 15. The traders’ community has requested customers to cooperate on Oct 2 and carry cash for transactions.
It would erode our margins, especially for small retailers, and put a substantial monthly burden on them,” he said. However, to show the unity and strength of traders to govt before that deadline, we have decided to observe a one-day symbolic protest by not accepting UPI payments across the state,” the traders’ body said. Endorsing the call, district and taluka traders’ associations in Marathwada have appealed to all traders, including retail stores, cloth merchants, electronics dealers and small vendors, to join the agitation, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti , and accept only cash payments on that day.