Don’t Charge Customers For Smaller ‘Digital’ Transactions Till March End: RBI To Banks

To support the ‘digital banking’ push by the Central government, the Reserve Bank of India has directed banks not to levy any charges on customers for transactions up to ₹1,000 settled on Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), USSD-based *99# and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) systems from January 1, 2017, to  March 31, 2017.

The apex bank has clarified that this is a ‘temporary measure’ to support the government, which is pushing for greater adoption of digital payments by large sections of the society, The RBI said it would facilitate a review of the charges in the meantime.

Vide another notification, the RBI directed the banks to cap merchant discount rate for transactions up to ₹1,000   at 0.25% of the transaction value, and for transactions between ₹ 1,000 and ₹2,000 at 0.5% of the transaction value.

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