India, Sept. 16 -- The Congress on Wednesday accused the government of yielding to US pressure by introducing a Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) on certain UPI transactions, demanding that the decision be withdrawn and the digital payments system remain free.

Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said he had "redefined NOTA -- Narendra's Ongoing Trump Appeasement".

The Congress alleged that the move was aimed at benefiting US-based card companies at the expense of Indian users and merchants.

Ramesh questioned whether the proposed MDR was intended to help companies such as Visa and Mastercard compete with UPI, citing earlier criticism of the zero-MDR system by the U...