No extra charge for card payments at petrol pumps, announces govt

New Delhi: Taking the protest of the petroleum dealers in cognizance, the government on Monday announced that no extra charge will be taken for card payments at petrol pumps.

Earlier on Sunday, the petroleum dealers had threatened to stop accepting card payments to oppose the 0.25 per cent to 1 per cent extra charge on debit card payments and 1 per cent extra charge on credit card transactions in the name of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR).

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan said, "Neither consumers nor the retail fuel outlets will have to pay extra for digital transactions."

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The minister further said that the banks and the oil firms are holding discussions over who will bear the extra cost charged by banks on card payments for fuel.

After the government's intervention, the petrol pumps postponed their decision of not accepting the card payments till January 13.

The government, in a bid to promote cash-less transactions after the announcement of demonetisation on November 8, 2016, had waived the MDR on fuel. But after the ending of the 50-day period that the government sought to ease the situation of cash crunch, the banks announced to resume the fuel surcharge.

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"The petroleum dealers are operating on a very thin margin. The deduction is unaffordable. So, we do not have any other way than to stop accepting debit and credit cards," said Ajay Bansal, President of All India Petroleum Dealers Association, after the conclusion of a two-day state-level convention of petroleum dealers here on Sunday.