Card Payments Now Surcharge & Service Charge Free

 Hear ye! Hear ye! Have you heard the news about the Central government’s new decision to abolish the surcharge on card transactions? If you’re wondering why, we can tell you. This decision has been made with the intent to promote digital and card payments and reduce cash transactions. According to this proposal which was cleared by the Union Cabinet on 24^th February, 2016, there will no longer be surcharges, service charges and convenience fees on card payments. The objective is to shift from a cash dominated payment ecosystem to non-cash or cashless payment modes.

The Central Government has passed this order mainly to discourage tax avoidance, encourage the migration of government’s payment methods and put emphasis on cashless transactions. Cashless payments will also reduce chances of fraudulent transactions and a separate assurance mechanism will be set up to review fraudulent transactions.

The Government aims to promote mobile banking services so that banking transactions become faster and organised. It also aims at rationalising the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charged on card transactions so that more and more merchants and retailers shift to card payments. A unique MDR framework will be introduced for certain key segments in order to facilitate faster payments.

Several other short-term (policies to be introduced within a year) and medium-term (policies to be implemented within two years) measures will be introduced by the government ministries and departments to improve the overall payment ecosystem in the country.

This instrumental move by the Central government will promote more digital wallet and card payments for online transactions, which in turn will reduce fraudulent practices and control corruption to a certain extent.

So, get ready to flash your Debit or Credit Card for every transaction that you do. And in case you don’t already have a Debit Card or Credit Card, how about checking out our website for some good deals?