Hyderabad: Small traders do not want to apply for card machines for cashless transactions because of the bank charges of two to five per cent for each transaction.
Owners of kirana stores, paan shops, large vegetable vendors, chemists and others say that they are willing to opt for cashless transactions if these charges are done away with.
Mr Ramesh Gupta, a trader at Abids, said, “Small traders have limited monthly transactions, but the bank charges a percentage on these transactions which is not acceptable to all. For traders with lower turnouts, these charges affect their profits and it pinches them. If the government wants a cashless economy then there must be proper guidelines to the banks which can’t exploit traders with their own terms and conditions. The government must have an uniform policy which is applicable to all.”
For wholesalers, big merchants, retail stores and petrol pumps, whose turnovers are high, the charges do not matter. A trader on condition of anonymity explained, “The businessman has to bargain with the bankers on the percentage.
Those who bargain properly are able to extract the best price. In the case of retail chains, the finance charges are as low as 0.5 per cent of 1 per cent as their turnover is high. Hence, if the turnover is high, the percentage is low and if the turnover is low, the percentage is high.”
But with the cash running out, traders are queuing up with applications for card machines to their respective banks. A senior bank manager with Indian Overseas Bank said, “We do not have the time to process these applications. Every day there are close to 30 applications being received at the bank. We will have to wait for the situation to normalize to install these machines.”
Bank managers were not willing to disclose the finance charges stating that it was bank policy. But for now, traders are desperate as they are losing out on the business season and do not have any other available established method in place to operate.
