Demonetization has changed the country! Yes, nowadays, people are going digital owing to shortage of cash.
However, for encouraging widespread use of digital payments, government has given some good news. Today, an announcement was made that transaction charges on debit cards have been waived off till the 31st of December.
Following demonetization, all private sector and public sector banks have agreed to waive off transaction charges on payments that a person makes through debit cards. This announcement was made by Shaktikanta Das, the Secretary of Economic Affairs.
Currently, international companies like Visa and Mastercard charge transaction fees, while no transaction charges are applicable on Rupay debit cards. At present, Merchant Discount Rate or MDR has to be paid by customers if payments are made to government.
Das says
“The MDR charges on use of debit cards, the charges being levied by the banks and the switching charges will stand completely waived. So, there will be no charge on use of debit cards.”
Further, Das said that the main intention behind this decision was ensuring maximum usage of digital transactions and encouraging more people to go cash less.
He said
“The Reserve Bank in 2012 had capped the MDR for debit card transaction at 0.75 per cent for transaction values up to Rs 2,000 and at 1 per cent for transaction values above Rs 2,000. However, there is no RBI cap on MDR on credit card payments.”
As of October 2015, there were 2.3 crore credit card holders and 61.5 crore debit card users in India. So guys, isn’t it great news that you don’t have to pay any transaction costs this year?
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