He said the key words again were ‘currently exploring’.
The current proposal to levy a transaction fee or MDR on UPI and other digital payments never came before the committee thereafter, he said.
‘To suggest ‘certain members’ of the opposition supported the proposal by not dissenting is both unfounded and unfortunate and therefore incorrect. Thank you for your attention to this matter,’ the MP from Chandigarh said.
Tagging Tewari’s remarks, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and general-secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said in an X post: ‘The Chairperson, otherwise a seasoned and sober Parliamentarian, is 2024 batch Odisha cadre of the BJP. This explains his eagerness to mislead and misinform.’
Mahtab switched over to the BJP from the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress on Thursday rejected claims that its MPs who were part of the parliamentary standing committee on finance had supported the decision to levy a fee on high-value UPI payments and said the Modi government was making ‘pathetic’ attempts to divert attention from the ‘gigantic backlash’ generated after the ‘UPI tax’ decision.
The Opposition party’s assertion came after the government questioned the rationale behind Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of the decision to levy a fee on UPI payments to merchants above Rs 2,000, saying the parliamentary panel had backed the move and the Congress members on the panel had supported it.
A senior government functionary had said the parliamentary standing committee on finance had pressed for a tiered MDR or revenue framework for UPI and noted that it should be notified and operationalised without delay.
Five Congress MPs — P. Chidambaram, Tewari, Gaurav Gogoi, Kishori Lal and K. Gopinath — were present on 12 August when the report was adopted, with no dissent recorded in the published minutes, the functionary had said.
