The Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT) demands to cut down the burden transaction charges in the regular digital transaction.
The traders body has urged Union Minister for IT Shri Ashwini Vaishnav and Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman to constitute a Digital Payment Promotion Board in order to make India a less cash economy.
The traders body is for adoption of digital payments and landmark decision of G20 summit to extend digital economy to MSMEs but they demand relaxation in burden of transaction charges.
Speaking to The Statesman, the National President of CAIT, B C Bhartia said that the burden of transaction charges is one of the major deterrent in adoption and acceptance of digital payments in the country and as such steps are needed to incentivise use of digital payments. It will also help the efforts for bringing informal economy to formal economy.
The CAIT has urged that in order to ensure smoother adoption and acceptance of digital payments by small businesses which are more than 9 crore in India, the transaction charges on digital payments needs to be subsidised by the Government directly to the Banks reliving both traders & consumers from the burden of transaction charges.
The traders body is of the opinion that this will pave the way for faster adoption of digital payments by trade & commerce as also by the public.
The CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said, ” The National Payment Corporation ( NPCI) should run UPI, Bheem etc and a separate Regulatory Authority should be set up for monitoring and regulating the payment Industry”.
He also said that when an open network is being created as a policy by the Government then the payment industry should also be given an open network ensuring the best services to the users. Undoubtedly, the Rupey has played an important role in the Country.
The traders organisation feel that usage of ATMs could come with a nominal fee, if used more than three times for subsequent cash withdrawal. Further, an incentive scheme for greater usage of digital payments needs to be introduced and all sorts of debit and credit cards all other mode of digital payments including POS terminals, M-POS, mobile wallets, mobile applications, QR code, UPI & Aadhar enabled applications should be brought under the ambit of incentive schemes.
Trade leaders while stressing on their need for a regulatory body said that in accordance with the recommendations of Wattal Committee an independent Payments Regulatory Board should be set up. The Non Banking Finance Companies & Micro Finance Institutions should also be brought under the landscape of digital payments to install white label POS terminals by encouraging a scheme to subsidize POS terminals directly or indirectly across both urban and rural areas.
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