As things stand the government’s controversial decision to impose a merchant discount rate on specified UPI payments above Rs 2,000 will take affect from October 15. Critics believe this is a serious mistake. First, it could increase costs across the board with an impact on the economy as a whole. They also believe it will benefit Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay and PhonePe at the cost of UPI. Third, they think it’s being done to please the United States Trade Representative. Watch the Founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative, Ajay Srivastava in conversation with Karan Thapar.