New Delhi, Aug 10 (NVI): Parliament today cleared the Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which contains amendments related to the UPI transactions.
The bill was cleared by the Rajya Sabha four days after the Lok Sabha passed it.
Replying to a discussion on the bill, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the UPI-related amendment is only an enabling provision and does not itself impose any tax or transaction charge on users.
“The enabling provision that we are bringing in today does not impose any tax or transaction charge on UPI users,” Sitharaman said, adding that it enables the government to specify through notification the electronic payment modes that will continue to receive statutory protection against charges.
“No MDR framework has yet been finalised,” she said.
The Bill also carries a wider set of tax and investment-related changes, which include tax exemptions linked to specified data-centre services in India, incentives for global diamond-trading activity, measures supporting electronics manufacturing and relaxation of conditions for eligible investment funds.
On data centres, Sitharaman said the reforms would help expand the domestic ecosystem and stressed that “the investment, the assets, the employment, and also the profit will rest with Indian companies on account of data centre reforms.”
The Bill also provides tax exemptions for certain foreign institutional investors and the Bank for International Settlements on income from investments in government securities, while introducing other changes related to rough-diamond trading and business trusts.
The proposed legislation was considered as a Money Bill, because of which the Rajya Sabha could only make recommendations on its provisions and return it to the Lok Sabha, which may accept or reject those recommendations. (NVI)
