New Delhi, Sept. 16 -- Union Minister for Communications Jyotiraditya M Scindia on Wednesday reassured consumers amid debates over digital payment fees, making it clear that any attempt by merchants to pass on the costs of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on transactions done through Unified Payments Interface (UPI) to customers would violate the law and constitute a criminal offence.

Union Minister Scindia addressed queries regarding concerns that merchants might transfer a 0.4 per cent MDR transaction fee onto end-users. He emphasised that the government has neither recommended nor permitted any such levy on citizens.

"There is no recommendation to levy this on the customer. Doing so would violate the law and amount to a criminal offe...