The Kerala Textiles and Garments Dealers Welfare Association (KTGA) has protested against the Central government’s reported move to impose a 0.4% merchant discount rate (MDR) on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions from October 15.
The Ernakulam district committee of KTGA organised a protest march from its office at DD Bazaar to the BSNL office. KTGA State treasurer M.N. Babu flagged off the march.
Around 500 textile merchants from the district participated in the protest meeting, which was inaugurated by KTGA State general secretary K. Krishnan.
District president K.D. Johnson, State vice-president Beena Kannan and Kochi Corporation councillor Deepthy Mary Varghese were among those who addressed the gathering.
The protest comes against the backdrop of the proposed changes to UPI transactions. Under the new framework, a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) of 0.4% will apply to person-to-merchant UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 from October 15, with the charge capped at Rs 300 for transactions of Rs 75,000 or more.
Transactions up to Rs 2,000, peer-to-peer payments and payments to small vendors receiving up to Rs 1 lakh a month through UPI will remain free. The MDR will be distributed among banks, payment service providers and UPI apps in the payments chain, while consumers will continue to make UPI payments without a transaction fee.
