Reinforcing its push for cashless transactions, the Finance Ministry has asked banks to ensure that they have appropriate infrastructure in place to support RuPay and UPI modes, The Times of India reported.
This comes after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in November 2019 that businesses with a turnover of above Rs 50 crore would have to provide customers digital payment modes such as UPI QR codes or RuPay debit card, which will not incur merchant discount rate (MDR) fees from January.
Moneycontrol couldn’t independently verify the report.
The Department of Revenue (DoR) held meetings with industry bodies to ensure a smooth roll-out. The paper quoted an official as saying that businesses that ‘do not allow customers from taking advantage of the scheme’ would face a daily penalty of Rs 5,000.
This is aimed at promoting digital transactions, which help track funds flows better and also reduce the cost of business.
Further, to ensure compliance DoR officials will start store inspections from February 1, the source said, adding that banks cannot promote a single payment method over another. Notably, banks issue a significantly larger number of Mastercard and Visa Cards.
[“source=moneycontrol”]
