The Goan Network
PANAJI
Goa may be on its way to becoming the first State to go cashless, but there is a hurdle! The million-rupee question that comes to the mind is “ what about the surcharge that is levied while transacting via cards and mobile wallets?
Users of credit and debit cards have been paying a certain surcharge on transactions, more specifically on fuel refill. The surcharge may not be visible immediately at the time of transaction, but it does reflect in the summary at the time of billing. Some privileged cardholders are given the luxury of reversing the surcharge.
Moreover, select establishments prefer cash payments while several others charge the customer a levy ranging from 2 to 3 per cent of the transaction if payments are made using the card.
What happens now? The central government earlier said that there will be no surcharge on debit card transactions till December 31, 2016 in the wake of demonetisation. This clearly indicates that non-cash modes of transactions are not free. Will this mean the common man will have to pay a surcharge for the government’s cashless dream? Chances are that the citizens may still opt to pay in cash instead of bearing that surcharge.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in a 2013 circular said that it is not permissible for merchants to impose transaction charges on consumers for using debit cards. But, such instances continue to happen, wherein a retailer tells a customer that he will have to shell out 2% extra for making payment through debit card.
This shows that a lot of systems have to be put in place and consumers need to be educated. Besides, they should also know where to go to complain about such retailers.
Experts are of the opinion that banks and payment applications like Paytm will have to re-work their business model to make payments surcharge free to really make Goa cashless.
Anup Prabhu Verlekar, a chartered financial planner, said, “Number of businesses like distributor of consumer goods run on wafer-thin margins like 1-2 per cent. They will be virtually left with nothing, if they have to pay 0.5-1% surcharge on debit card transactions.”
Experts also think that really small traders like vegetable vendors, who have transaction value as less as Rs 5, will not be able to pay any surcharge on non-cash modes of payment.
Prajyot Mainkar, founder director of Androcid Media, said, “If you are selling something for just Rs 10, surcharge like 2% doesn’t make sense. It should be zero surcharge, actually.”
The fact of the matter is whether you use a debit card, credit card or payment application, either you have to pay as a consumer or the retailer/merchant has to pay.
A bank manager in Panaji said, “We charge vendors Rs 1,600 rental for a swipe machine for two months. We also charge 0.5-2% surcharge of transaction value.”
