Momos, MDR and the Price of Convenience

My friend Alicia called me to ask if I am really lighting Diya on PM's birthday in India? 

Unaware of this new development, I told her- after being gaslit on UPI MDR, it's currently NO- Zee!

Thankfully, she is not a foreign journalist, nor erstwhile Rakhi Sawant. Jeez!

But thank God for UPI, it was a life-saver in the world of Changeonomics. Ashneer Grover, the man of the hour, who actually stood up and called out the MDR on UPI, indeed a political self-sabotage in national media. Though this article is not exactly political but more personal.

Then I saw some self -proclaimed influencers trying to malign him and promoting MDR as the next best thing they saw after Jadoo in Krish. Dhoop, I mean- need fresh air. please!

Really? Is taxing public the only way to boost economy after the acclaimed 7.8% growth?

Managing Growth is a talent.

While the debate is on whether it's "taxing the public" or taxing the merchant. However, watching the 2 fiery duo on India Got Latent was indeed taxing.

I am sure a certain Mr Khan too would also be pondering this, but is it fir se SAMAY for FIR? Well, that guy is funny for sure, but watching Sawant was - Crass!

With such a firebrand and unfiltered panel, I expected this episode to be a fireworks spectacle,  but it turned into a debacle. Surbhi Vanzara's financial advice made more laughter in hindsight.

The MDR Dixit?

There is the humour, and then there is a dark humour. I do not know MDR is which? Lately, it is the dhak-dhak of newsbeat. 

Inflation lately feels like being in a shark tank, and swimming with piranhas is not making me hungry but only gasping for more breath, and AQI is diminishing.

To be-caramel or not to be-caramel 

I have quit eating popcorn, foxnut, peanuts, dry fruits and given the inflation, it is not far when I may quit eating all and become sanyasi. No, I'm not talking about sitting on "Ann-Shun", as I voted for this government and I'm not a Maggie naxal. 

MDR on UPI is nothing in front of the ever-increasing inflation, the cost of living and education. It is the insensitivity that hurts. 

UPI made transactions easier, especially in a country like ours where loose change is a big rarity, and the chances/probability of finding a new planet are higher than the probability of getting change back. [Read Changeonomics]  The P2P exchange doesn't run the economy, but online shopping and transactions may definitely get a low, while banks will continue to laugh their way to the river?

Alice rightly asked: So, your bank will keep your money at 5% annual interest, but on withdrawal or spending via UPI, you will be charged 0.4% per transaction above 2000 INR on using your money?

I, like a lot of illiterate or maybe funded reel makers on social media said- Yes. But it is the charges levied on the banks, not consumers. Besides, on P2P transactions, it will be free. 

Alicia-Is it like banning the Rs 1000 note and introducing the Rs 2000 note to reduce corruption?

Waah Ji Waah!

Eat your momos before they are taxed

I am not amused, but disheartened. 

Dejected, I called the cafe in my society club and ordered a veg momo for home delivery. They delivered quickly, and while paying the bill via UPI, I saw the breakdown out of curiosity. The momos were priced at Rs 240 for 6 pieces. If I bought them from a street vendor, I would have simply paid him Rs 250 or just Rs 100 (quality being the same or better). Here, the cafe charged me MRP + 2 types of taxes plus packing charges, making me pay almost Rs 100 additionally on already highly priced momos. Cost of convenience, I guess.

I felt like calling up the cafe and asking them why they were charging packing charges when they are living off our premises [society maintenance that already covers the club and the free space, electricity and water they were getting]. It's like- Tumhara doggy Variable- variable, but mera fixed [cost] fixed nahi? woof-woof.

But then, do we ask the same question of our government, which levies taxes on us, starting with TDS, GST, SGST, CGST, Cess and whatnot. 

Good sense often prevails over logic, and as I started eating the momos, I realised the magnanimity of the cafe when I found plastic packaging inside the food as well. Value for money? Eh!  

My dear elementary, Watson and Alicia have never bargained with a local service vendor for coriander, nor am I going to question the cafe back. So do the citizens with the government. But how about the sense of un-belonging that seeps in? 

Ok, how about the GIG economy?

The round-figure Online/ GIG Economy 

Akin to the issues faced during demonetization, it was the UPI that came to rescue. Today, almost every online merchant has a UPI option and is preferred over the cumbersome net banking, credit card and cash options. Especially for people like us who do not keep cash at home and pay via UPI. Ordered last-minute groceries from Zept- pay via UPI

Calling someone from UrbanClap- pay via UPI

Ordered food on Zomato or clothes on Myntra- pay via UPI

Some of us choose cash on delivery and yet pay via UPI, as that is the best option available to us. What is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed to mercilessly make a simple, user-friendly tax system? And you must be living under a stone if you think the merchant is going to bear this cost and not pass it on to the consumer.

It may also lead to cash misappropriation and black marketing that policy myopia has conveniently ignored. 

And the under-Rs 2000 slab is also defunct. A few cases to get you thinking-

1) Annual phone recharge value is above 2000 and mostly done via UPI

2) Online tickets, Doctor visit bills or any shopping value above Rs 2000. Are you going to ask the cashier to give you multiple bills, or, like at a multiplex, will you rather buy a normal popcorn over caramel popcorn?

3) Cost Plurality - will the cost be limited just to banks for UPI? Even the bill system format, printing, back-end and cascade would have its own cost, among other possible costs. 

Perhaps the public might continue to use UPI transactions because it is convenient and cash is inconvenient or because there is no better alternative in between. However, convenience in not equivalent to consent. When believers start losing faith, the government [coalition or majority] must take note. 

Zeej, good PR or bad, only time will tell.

Numerounity