BackDigital payments almost doubled in three years, Centre tells Lok Sabha
As per RBI data, 2,326.02 crore digital payments were recorded in FY19, which increased to 3,400.25 crore in FY20. By FY21, the volume of digital transactions had increased to 4,374.45 crore
PremiumDigital payments almost doubled between FY19 and FY21 due to the push to Digital India initiative, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Kisanrao Karad mentioned in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.
As per RBI data shared by Karad with his reply, 2,326.02 crore digital payments were recorded in financial year 2018-19, which increased to 3,400.25 crore in financial year 2019-20. By financial year 2020-21, the volume of digital transactions had increased to 4,374.45 crore.
Till October this year, a total of 3,682.84 crore digital payments were done in the nation.
Karad further stated that as apprised by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in terms of extant instructions, with effect from September 7, 1999, Scheduled Commercial Banks have however been given the freedom to fix service charges for various types of services rendered by them.
While fixing service charges, banks have, however, been advised to ensure that the charges are reasonable and not out of line with the average cost of providing these services.
They have been further advised to identify basic services and the principles to be adopted /followed by them for ensuring reasonableness in fixing such charges and to take steps to ensure that customers are made aware of the service charges upfront and changes in the service charges are implemented only with the prior notice to the customers.
The Minister further stated that the above instructions are consolidated in paragraph 6 of Master Circular on ‘Customer Service in Banks’. Also, RBI in a circular dated December 06, 2017, have advised banks to ensure that merchants on-boarded by them do not pass on MDR charges to customers while accepting payments through debit cards.
Meanwhile, Department of Revenue has mandated that any charge, including the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), shall not be applicable on or after January 01, 2020, on payments through prescribed electronic modes, including RuPay debit cards, BHIM-UPI and BHIM-UPI QR Code, Karad stated.
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