No transaction charges on debit card payments: Govt.

TIL Desk/Business/New Delhi-To encourage widespread usage of digital payments post demonetisation, the government on Wednesday said no transaction charges will be levied on debit cards till December 31. All public sector banks and some private sector ones have agreed to waive the transaction cost for all payments made through debit cards, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said.

The move comes after the government reviewed the situation post demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and decided to encourage digital payments. “Public sector banks and some of the private sector banks, and some of the service providers who provide switching services, have agreed to waive the service charges on the use of debit cards up to December 31, 2016,” Das said.

As of now, Rupay debit cards have already waived the switching charges. Other debit cards which operate international card network companies like Mastercard and Visa, currently charge transaction charges. So far, customers bear the transaction cost commonly known as merchant discount rate (MDR) on payments made to the government. “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.