E-Payments in Government Offices
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 324
ANSWERED ON: 03.02.2017
E-Payments in Government Offices
K. GOPAL
A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN
VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:-
(a).
Whether the Government has asked its departments/offices of public
sector firms and autonomous bodies to encourage their employees to use
e-payments/debit cards for personal transactions to boost digital
payment economy and if so, the details thereof;
(b)Whether the
Government has instructed its departments/offices to stop cash payments
to vendors and contractors for amounts above Rs.5000 and if so, the
details thereof;
(c) Whether the Government has asked banks to
promote digital banking in mission mode to boost digital economy and if
so, the details thereof; and
(d).The steps taken/being taken by Government to promote e-payment in this regard?
ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)
(a).
Yes, the Department of Expenditure has issued an advisory to all
Ministries/Departments to encourage its employees to make use of Debit
Cards for personal transactions instead of cash vide OM No. 25
(30)/E.Coord/2016 dated 1st December 2016. Given the progress made in
banking technology, it is assumed that each employee would be in
possession of a Debit/ATM card linked to his/her bank account. Ensuring
and encouraging government employees to maximise the usage of Debit
cards for personal related transactions instead of cash would go a long
way serving with the employees serving as ‘ambassadors’ for the digital
push and also motivate, encourage the general public in taking up the
cause. All Ministries/Departments have been requested to encourage their
employees to make use of Debit Cards for personal related transactions
instead of cash. Ministries/Departments should liaise with their
accredited banks and set up special camps to facilitate obtaining of and
ensure that all its employees are in possession of Debit Cards.
Ministries/Departments may also issue similar advisories to their
attached/subordinate offices, PSUs, Autonomous Bodies etc.
(b).
Yes, the Controller General of Accounts, Department of Expenditure has
issued instructions to all Ministries/Departments vide OM. No. 3 (2)
(1)/2016/ R&P Rules/Amendments/649 dated 5th December 2016. Rs. 10,
000/- was the earlier threshold limit beyond which all payments to
suppliers, contractors etc.were made through e-payment mode. In order to
attain the goal of complete digitization of Government payments the
existing limit of Rs. 10, 000/- has been lowered to Rs. 5,000/- beyond
which all Ministries/Departments shall make payment to suppliers,
contractors etc. through e-payment mode only.
(c) & (d): The
steps initiated by the Government to encourage digital banking in
mission mode and the other measures taken to promote e-payment is
provided in Annexure - I.
ANNEXURE - I
Incentives to promote digital transactions:
To
further accelerate the process of cashless transaction, the Central
Government has decided on a package of incentives and measures for
promotion of digital and cashless economy in the country. These include:
(A) Petroleum:
Nearly 4.5 crore customers buy petrol or diesel at such petrol pumps
per day. It is estimated that petrol/diesel worth Rs.1800 crore is sold
per day to the customers, out of which nearly 20% was being paid through
digital means. In the month of November 2016 it has increased to 40%
and the cash transaction of Rs. 360 crore per day have got shifted to
cashless transaction methods.
Incentive on digital payment:
- The
Central Government petroleum PSUs shall give incentive by offering a
discount rate of 0.75% of the sale price to consumers on purchase of
petrol/diesel, if payment is made through digital means.
- The
incentive scheme has the potential of shifting at least 30% more
customer to digital means which will further reduce the cash requirement
of nearly Rs. 2 Lakh crore per year at the petrol pumps.
(B). Expand digital payment infrastructure in rural areas:
i.
To expand digital payment infrastructure in rural areas, the Central
Government through NABARD will extend financial support to eligible
banks for deployment of 2 POS devices each in 1 Lakh villages with
population of less than 10,000. These POS machines are intended to be
deployed at primary cooperative societies/milk societies/agricultural
input dealers to facilitate agri-related transactions through digital
means. This will benefit farmers of 1 Lakh villages covering a total
population of nearly 75 crore who will have facility to transact
cashlessly in their village for their agri needs.
ii. The Central
Government through NABARD will also support Rural regional Banks and
Cooperative Banks to issue ‘RuPay Kisan Cards’ to 4.32 crore Kisan Card
holders to enable them to make digital transactions at POS
machines/Micro ATMs/ATMs.
(C). Railways:
i.
Seasonal or Monthly Tickets: Nearly 80 Lakh passengers use seasonal or
monthly ticket on suburban railways, largely in cash spending nearly Rs.
2,000 crore per year. As more and more passengers shift to digital
means, the cash requirement may get reduced by Rs.1, 000 crore per year
in near future.
Incentive on digital payment:
Railways through
its suburban railway network shall provide incentive by way of discount
upto 0.5% to customers for monthly or seasonal tickets from January
2017, if payment is made through digital means.
ii. Free
Accidental Insurance: Nearly 14 Lakh railway passengers are buying
tickets everyday, out of which 58% tickets are bought online through
digital means. It is expected that another 20% passengers may shift to
digital payment methods of buying railway tickets.
Incentive on digital payment:
All
railway passengers buying online ticket shall be given free accidental
insurance cover upto Rs. 10 Lakh. Nearly 11 Lakh passengers per day will
be covered under the accidental insurance scheme.
iii. Paid
Services: For paid services e.g. catering, accommodation, retiring rooms
etc. being offered by railways through its affiliated
entities/corporations to passengers, it will provide a discount of 5%
for payment of these services through digital means. All the passengers
travelling on railways availing these services may avail the benefit.
(D). General Insurance Policies:
Incentive on digital payment:
Public Sector Insurance Companies will provide incentive by way of
discount or credit upto 10% of the premium in general insurance policies
and 8% in new life policies of Life Insurance Corporation sold through
the customer portals, in case payment is made through digital means.
(E). MDR Charges
The Central Government Departments and Central Public Sector
Undertakings will ensure that transaction fee/MDR charges associated
with payment through digital means shall not be passed on to the
consumers and all such expenses shall be borne by them. State
Governments are being advised that the State Governments and its
organizations should also consider to absorb the transaction fee/MDR
charges related to digital payment to them and consumer should not be
asked to bear it.
(F). Ceiling on monthly rental for POS
i. Public Sector banks are being advised that merchant should not be
required to pay more than Rs. 100 per month as monthly rental for POS
terminals/Micro ATMs/mobile POS from the merchants to bring small
merchants on board the digital payment ecosystem.
ii. Neary 6.5 Lakh
machines by Public Sector banks have been issued to merchants who will
be benefitted by the lower rentals and promote digital transactions.
With lower rentals, more merchants will install such machines and
promote digital transactions.
(G). Waiver of Service Tax
No Service Tax will be charged on digital transaction charges/MDR for transactions upto Rs. 2000 per transaction.
(H). Digital Payment Incentives for Toll payments
For the payment of toll at Toll Plazas on National Highways using RFID
card/Fast Tags, a discount of 10% will be available to users in year
2016-17.
Major initiatives taken for promoting digital/cashless payments so far include the following:
(A). Rationalizing MDR/Transaction Fees:
i. To encourage digital payments by citizens, Government departments
have been advised to absorb transaction fees/MDR associated with such
transactions to ensure that no extra burden is put on those choosing to
make payments by cashless means.
ii. For purchase of fuel and
petroleum products, consumers are not required to pay any transaction
charge/fee for payment using Debit Card/digital means at CPSU fuel
stations.
iii. Discoms and State Governments have been persuaded
to facilitate payment of electricity charges by consumers through
digital means without any convenience fee/charge to consumers.
iv.
Merchant Discount Rate on Debit Card has been waived till 31/12/2016 in
public interest. This is expected to encourage small merchants to
deploy infrastructure (POS terminals) to accept digital payments.
v.
Customers are not required to pay Service Charges on purchase of
railway tickets through cards at railway ticketing counters for a
limited period.
(B). Strengthening Acceptance Infrastructure:
i.
Digital payments being accepted by over 70 Central Government
departments through various electronic modes viz., netbanking,
debit/credit cards, prepaid cards, Interbank Mobile Payment Service
(IMPS) recording more than 1.4 crore transactions worth Rs. 3250 crores.
ii.
Mobile Banking through interoperable ATMs has been launched; 81,000
ATMs of 12 Banks are already live and another 15,000 machines are
expected to go live shortly.
iii. All major 45 archaeological
sites having maximum footfalls/tourists have started accepting digital
payments covering more than 80% of the visitors.
iv. To popularise
digital payments, the acceptance infrastructure is substantially
expanded by increasing deployment of POS/mobile POS machines from 14
Lakh to 25 Lakh by March 2017. A separate Task Force is closely
monitoring the progress in this regard.
v. To expedite card less and pin less banking RBI has notified mandatory Aadhar Enablement of all new Point of Sale terminals.
vi. 5.5 Lakh Fair Price Shops are being equipped with micro-ATMs/POS for undertaking digital payment transactions.
vii.
Electronic Toll collection system has been implemented in all Toll
Plazas along with the facility to pay by credit/debit/prepaid cards. It
shall be expanded to cover more lanes and wider network for distribution
of Tags.
viii. For the benefit of commuters, standardized interoperable National Common Mobility card is being developed.
ix. 1000 ATMs installed in Post Offices have been permitted to be interoperable with the banks.
x.
State Mission Directors of 33 identified smart cities have been issued
advisories to provide for adequate deployment of digital payment
infrastructure while designing smart cities.
(C). Digital Payments in Govt Departments:
i.
To enable all Central Government Departments to accept digital payments
without passing associated charges to citizens a separate head of
expenditure has been approved.
ii. A Non-Tax Receipt Portal
(bharatkosh.gov.in) has been created to enable users/citizens to make
non-tax payments for as many as 237 categories of payments such as
spectrum charges, RTI application fee, purchase of forms and magazines
etc. online without going to banks or Government Offices.
iii. All
Government organizations, Public Sector Undertakings, Authorities have
been advised to review rules and regulations to support digital
payments, adopt cashless payment solutions and activate payment facility
through the pay.gov platform if they do not have such facility.
iv.
Salary disbursal in all Central Government departments is being done
through PFMS and the platform is also used for disbursal of other
funds/payments.
(D). Rationalization of USSD charges
To
enable mobile banking on feature phones, USSD charges have been
rationalized and reduced from Rs. 1.50 per SMS to Rs. 0.50; an
application for mobile phone payments (*99#) in four languages has been
developed and the service providers have completely waived the charges
for limited time.
(E). Rolling out of UPI
To
facilitate mobile banking on smart phones, NPCI has rolled out Unified
Payment Interface (UPI) application and 27 banks have already released
the application to their customers.
(F). Strengthening Business Correspondents Network
i.
More than 1,10,000 Business Correspondents (BCs) have been engaged by
the Banks and Corporates in the country. These BCs are providing
services at the door steps of the people in rural as well as in remote
areas.
ii. In a major fillip to rural banking 1,25,000 Gramin Dak Sewaks of Post Offices to work as Business Correspondents of Banks.
iii.
All geographical areas across the country have been mapped with
Banks/Bank Mitras and dark/grey spots identified. Possibility of
providing connectivity through VSAT and other means is being explored on
priority.
iv. For ease of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), long
pending issue of incentive compatible payments to Business
Correspondents settled.
Besides above, the Hon’ble Prime Minister
has also announced certain incentives on 31st December 2016. The
proposals have also been announced in the Union Budget by the Hon’ble
Finance Minister.
Source: Loksabha.nic.in
