In a bid to promote the usage of digital transactions, Ministry of Railways has urged the banks to waive off the charges levied on e-payments.
It has assured the banks to provide better and higher business opportunities in return for minimising the charges, called merchant discount rate (MDR).
The national transporter further said that this move will encourage the use of cashless payments and in return benefit the banks, travellers and also the railways.
“This will help the railways reduce the cost incurred on window bookings of rail tickets and travellers, in turn, will get cheaper tickets,” said an official from Ministry of Railways.
Reportedly, the Indian Railways wants its ticketing service to go completely digital in order to reduce the cost incurred in managing ticket windows. The Ministry has even notified the heads of all major banks asking them to waive the MDR to facilitate digital payments.
“The railways have told the banks that if they waive or minimise the charges, the national transporter will use their banking facilities for its deposits and employee salaries in lieu of this,” the official said.
MDR is the rate levied on a merchant by a bank for providing debit and credit card services. The charge varies from Rs 10 plus taxes to 1.8 per cent of transactions plus taxes. The charge discourages consumers from choosing digital payments at ticket windows.
