Traders want transaction charge on digital payments removed

New Delhi: The government should remove transaction charges on e-payments for the faster adoption of digital payments in the country, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said on Thursday.

"Transaction charges are one of the major deterrents in adoption of digital payments in the country. It is urgently required for the government to do away with the transaction charges so that neither the traders nor the consumers are burdened," CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia said in a statement.

"On the other hand, the government may levy a nominal ATM usage surcharge in order to discourage people to withdraw cash from ATMs and motivate them to pay directly by cards," Bhartia added.

The CAIT said the government should subsidise transaction charges levied on e-payments to the banks directly for faster adoption of digital payments.

The confederation also called for implementation of the drafted proposal floated by the government in August 2015 for incentivising traders who are willing to accept digital payments.

"The incentive could be in form of either tax benefits or waiver of transaction costs which would result into encouraging traders to embrace e-payments system," the statement said.

The confederation had organised a conference on "Digital Payments-Importance & Adoption for future business India" here extending support to the government's mission of increased digital payment adoption in the wake of fast approaching Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

"CAIT also announced its partnership with HDFC Bank to provide banking solutions to trading fraternity and help them achieve maximised business growth and expansion by way of championing into digital business operations," the statement said.

The CAIT launched a national campaign this year in association with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to persuade non-corporate business sector for amplified adoption of Digital Payments, it added.