About Cartoon:
We all love UPI because it is fast, easy, and completely free. It changed the way we buy everything from groceries to clothes. But lately, there has been a lot of talk about adding a 0.4% charge on merchant payments over ₹2,000. This has started a big debate across the country.
My cartoon, "सब माया है" (It's all an illusion), takes a funny look at this situation. First, everyone is told to stop using cash and switch to digital payments. But once everyone actually changes their habits, the rules start to change, and new fees get introduced.
Why this is a big deal for regular people:
- Small Businesses Suffer: While regular people can still send money to friends for free, shopkeepers have to pay the price. A 0.4% fee might sound small, but for a small business doing many transactions a day, it really cuts into their hard-earned daily profits.
- Cash Might Come Back: The main point of UPI was to get rid of cash. But if big digital bills start coming with extra fees, people and businesses might just go back to using paper money to save cash.
- The Extra Cost: If shopkeepers get tired of paying these fees, they will eventually pass the cost onto the customers by raising prices. In the end, the common man is the one who pays.
This cartoon is all about that awkward moment when a free service we all depend on starts turning into a regular business with hidden costs. It reminds us that in the digital world, "free" things don't stay free forever.
Cartoon by Kirtish Bhatt.
