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Tag: Ministry of Finance

  • UPI Slips Slightly: Transactions Dip to 18.40 Billion in June

    Transactions using the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) fell slightly to 18.40 billion in June from an all-time high of 18.68 billion the month before. Compared to the previous year, the number of transactions increased by 32%.

    Compared to the 17.89 billion transactions that were reported in April, the number of transactions in the month under review is 2.9% greater. According to data made public by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI transactions totalled INR 24.04 Lakh Cr in June, a 4.4% decrease from the INR 25.14 Lakh Cr transactions that were reported the month before.

     In contrast, the average daily transaction count increased from 602 million in May to 613 million in June. In addition, INR 80,131 Cr was the average daily transaction value.

    India Leading the Global Digital Payment Race

    India is currently working on improving UPI’s efficiency, even though it is already at the forefront of the digital payment race and helping other countries to catch up.

     According to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was speaking at the Digital Payments Award 2025, India currently makes up 48.5% of the world’s real-time digital payments, and the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) ecosystem has over 35 Cr users. She added that a few merchant shops in seven countries, including Bhutan, Nepal, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Singapore and France, currently accept UPI.

    The NPCI implemented new rules last month to speed up the processing of UPI payments. Remitter banks, beneficiary banks, and payer and payee payment service providers (PSPs) have been instructed to cut the response time for UPI APIs started by the NPCI to as little as 10 seconds for specific transactions in accordance with the new regulations.

    Speculations on MDR

    The government may impose a merchant discount rate (MDR) on UPI transactions exceeding INR 3,000, according to a report. The finance ministry, however, denied the allegations and referred to the study as hypothetical, unfounded, and deceptive.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a letter earlier this year from the Payment Councils of India (PCI) urging him to reevaluate the 0% MDR policy for RuPay and UPI transactions.

    Ministry further stated that nation’s people are unnecessarily apprehensive, afraid, and suspicious as a result of such sensational and unfounded rumours. The government is still totally committed to encouraging digital payments through UPI.

    When banks or payment service providers handle digital transactions through UPI, they charge merchants a fee known as the MDR. To encourage digital payments across the nation, the price was reduced to zero in 2020. However, many people think that the lack of MDR has tempered interest in making additional investments in digital infrastructure.

  • The Centre Designates GST Officer to Block Websites Run by Online Gaming Companies that are Evading Taxes

    The Directorate General of GST Intelligence Headquarter (DGGI-HQ) has been given authority by the Indian government to direct intermediaries to disable the websites of online gaming enterprises accused of tax evasion. The government has designated the Additional/Joint Director (Intelligence) as the nodal officer for the assignment, according to a notice published in the Ministry of Finance’s gazette.

    Section 14A(3) of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 gives the DGGI-HQ the authority to block any “information generated, transmitted, received, or hosted in any computer resource” that an online gaming company that has not paid taxes has used. This covers businesses based outside of India.

    Clause (b) of sub-section (3) of section 79 of the Information Technology Act, which imposes liability on intermediaries for failing to block or remove content upon government orders, is also cited in the notification. The material Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules’ clause (d) of subrule (1), which forbids intermediaries from keeping illegal material, is also included.

    The government’s intention is to thwart tax-evading foreign gambling platforms by instructing intermediaries, such as search engines and social media platforms, to halt their online operations in India, according to the gazette notification.

    Sector Evaded Taxes Worth INR 81,875 Crore in FY24

    Earlier this year, the DGGI declared that the largest amount of GST evasion in the fiscal year 2023–2024 was caused by the online real money gaming industry. In FY24, the sector avoided paying taxes totalling INR 81,875 crore in 78 cases. The distinction between “real money online gaming” and gambling was effectively eliminated when the government raised the GST on real money online gaming from 18% to 28% earlier in 2023.

    Numerous businesses received extensive tax evasion warnings dating back to prior fiscal years when the legislation went into effect on October 1, 2023. According to reports, Delta Corp received a notice of INR 16,822 crore for the period of July 2017 to March 2022, while Dream Sports received claims ranging from INR 25,000 to INR 40,000 crore.

    Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman later disclosed that within six months of the raise, tax receipts from the sector had increased fivefold. From October 2023 to March 2024, collections increased 412% to INR 6,909 crore from INR 1,349 crore.

    Government Under Strong Criticism

    The industry protested the tax hike, which was a highly contentious move. In a letter to the government, more than 100 skill-gaming businesses claimed that it would “reverse the growth trajectory of the industry.” According to the letter, the GST will incentivise offshore gambling operators, attract Indian customers to them, and ultimately result in neither the expansion of the legal industry nor the best possible revenue collection.

    CoinSwitch Announces INR 600 Cr Recovery Plan for Hack Victims
    CoinSwitch plans to propose a recovery plan worth INR 600 crore to assist victims of recent hacks, aiming to restore trust and provide relief.
    StartupTalkyNitin Konde