Hyderabad: Despite the Reserve Bank of India’s instructions that two per cent additional charge on debit and credit card purchases must not be collected, several commercial establishments in the city have been continuing the loot pre and post-demonetisation.
Surprisingly, even though banks and the commercial taxes department are aware of the illegal collection, they have not come to the rescue of customers. Instead, the commercial taxes department claims that the matter is not in their purview. Banks say that it cannot regulate it until other nodal agencies help to identify the nature of the business.
With ATMs shutting down at an alarming rate, customers have been forced to pay by card, even for smaller purchases, including grocery and wine stores.
The Centre has been promoting digital transactions but shopkeepers in the city have been discouraging it with additional charges. About 95 per cent of commercial establishments in the city have been collecting two per cent extra on the total bill on card purchase.
Mr Jadala Santosh Kumar, an NRI who visited city on vacation, made purchases at a wine shop on Sangeet-Mettuguda road in Secun-derabad and was shocked to learn the price variation between cash and digital transaction. When Mr Kum-ar asked about the extra charge, the shop keeper said that his boss had ordered him to levy two per cent extra on every card transaction. This was the case in all the wine shops he visited.
Ms Sravanthi Sanam, a resident of Banjara Hills, said that the provision store in Banjara Hills MLA Colony had started charging two per cent extra on every card transaction. “When I asked about the additional charge, the shopkeeper directed me to withdraw cash from a nearby ATM to avoid the extra charge. Most of the times, ATMs are out of cash and we are forced to make card purchases,” Ms Sanam said.
When this issue was brought to the notice of Mr Somesh Kumar, principal secretar of commercial taxes, he said that collection of additional charges on card purchase does not come under his department’s purview; the department is only concerned about transparent transactions. He said it is bankers who should regulate the loot as they sell point-of-sale machines to the merchants.
Mr Gutta Kranthi, president of RBI Employees Associations, said that the Centre had spent Rs10,000 crore to encourage digital transactions and the government bears the transaction charges. The extra charge is against the law and is a punishable offence. Asked who should regulate the additional charges by the banks, Mr Kranthi said it is the duty of the police as banks cannot identify the nature of the business.
The RBI says: Merchant establishments levy fee as a percentage of transaction value as charges on customers who are making payments for purchase of goods and services through cards. Such fees are not justifiable and are not permissible as per the bilateral agreement between the acquiring bank and the merchants
