Banks to waive off service charge on debit cards till December 31

The Indian government is facing a tough time dealing withthe cash crunch. Despite a huge shift to digital transactions in the previoustwo weeks, the cash crunch is still a huge obstacle to be dealt with.

The Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das addressed theproblems by declaring new provisions to ease the crisis.

Here are the major announcements made by the EconomicAffairs Secretary:

• Service tax will not be levied on tickets booked through theIRCTC website from November 23 to December 31, said a senior railway ministryofficial

• RBI announced certain relaxation yesterday on E-wallets,enhancing the limit from Rs 10k to Rs 20K in respect of individuals

• Some of public and private sector banks and serviceproviders agreed to waive service charges on use of debit cards up to December31

• More than 82,000 ATMs have been recalibrated, constituting40 per cent of the total ATMs in the country

• According to Das, public banks have said that there has beena surge in demand for usage of digital financial transactions

• No service charge will be levied on digital financialtransactions using feature phones till Dec 31st

• NABARD and RBI have been advised to ensure adequate cashsupply to the DCCBs

• NABARD has sanctioned Rs 21,000 crore limit to districtcentral cooperative bank

• Toll plazas are advised to promote digital transactions.RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification devices) facility will be used in new carsthat facilitate e-payment at national highways tolls

• All new government organisations and public sectorfacilities have been asked to use only e-payments - that is via card or digitalplatforms, AADHAAR enabled payments, etc.