Demonetisation: Steps taken by govt to promote cashless transactions

Here are the measures govt has taken to crack down on black money and promote cashless payments

When the Narendra Modi-led central government on November 8 announced the discontinuation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as legal tender, not everyone knew what lay ahead. But everyone appreciated the government’s intent of cracking down on the flow of black money into the system. For this, the government is looking at reducing cash transactions in the country and moving increasingly towards the idea of cashless economy. 

However, if the problems people have faced in the days after the demonetisation announcement – manifest in the long queues at bank branches and ATM centres for valid currency notes – are any indication, India’s shift to a cashless economy is not going to be easy.  

So, to promote the use of plastic money and reduce people’s dependence on cash, the government has lately announced a slew of measures. On Wednesday, for example, it was announced that no service charges would be levied on debit card transactions till December 31.

Business Standard lists the measures taken so far by the government to promote cashless transactions and reduce the difficulties faced by people amid a cash shortage:

No transaction charge on debit cards 

Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said all public-sector banks and some private ones had already agreed to waive the transaction cost for all payments made through debit cards. 

As of now, Rupay debit cards have already waived the switching charges. Other debit cards that operate international card network companies like Mastercard and Visa at present charge service fees.

No service tax for online train ticket booking till Dec 31

Train tickets booked through the IRCTC website till December 31 have become cheaper, with the government waiving off service tax. A senior railway ministry official on Tuesday said that no service tax would not be levied on tickets booked through IRCTC from November 23 to December 31. 

At present, Rs 20 is levied as service tax on sleeper and Rs 40 on AC class ticket bookings through IRCTC.

Parking fee waiver at airports till Nov 28

The government decided not to levy parking fee at airports till the midnight of November 28. The waiver was initially for a week starting the midnight of November 14. 

The decision to defer collecting parking charges would be applicable for Airports Authority of India (AAI) as well as privately operated aerodromes.

RBI directs banks to waive ATM charges till Dec 30

The Reserve Bank of India directed banks to waive ATM charges on all transactions done by savings bank customers till December 30. The waiver is applicable on all transactions done by customers – those done at their own bank’s ATMs, as well as those of other banks.

The waiver is applicable on transactions done at ATMs from November 10 to December 30, 2016.

Telcos waive mobile banking charges till Dec 31

Telecom operators have made short code messages used for banking services free till December 31. The development came after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) reduced the charges on the service, known as Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), to 50 paise from Rs 1.50.