India's Digital Infrastructure at a Crossroads: UPI Fees Loom as AI Sovereignty Accelerates

India's digital economy is hitting a sustainability wall — and the government is finally willing to charge for the roads it built.

Evidence For

• ₹30 lakh crore flows through UPI monthly, processing 23 billion transactions — but banks and payment providers are bleeding infrastructure costs with zero MDR.
• A Parliamentary Standing Committee report flagged the current model as "financially unsustainable", forecasting UPI will add 600 million more users and...