Have you faced a situation where a merchant, say, a grocer, has asked you to pay extra because you wanted to pay using a card? That is because for every card swipe at a point of sale (PoS) terminal, the grocer has to pay a fee that is calculated as a percentage of the transaction value. Now, the government is working to reduce Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges to encourage digital payments. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday said compulsion of going digital post note ban has become a habit and e-payments will gather pace on account of government initiatives and technology advancement. In view of this, the government has proposed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cap the merchant discount rate (MDR) on debit card transactions at Rs 200, according to a report published in The Financial Express.
