0.75% discount on use of debit/credit cards, mobile wallets at PSU petrol pumps from December 13

The government of India on Monday announced 0.75 per cent discount on use of debit/credit cards, mobile wallets and prepaid loyalty cards at PSU petrol pumps from December 13.

The discount will start from Monday midnight and would be by way of cash back which will be credited to the buyer’s account in three days from the transaction, said Indian oil Corp, the nation’s largest fuel retailer.

The 0.75 per cent discount on payments made using either credit/debit cards, e-wallets or mobile wallets will translate into a rebate of 49 paisa a litre on petrol and 41 paisa on diesel.

Petrol is currently sold at Rs 66.10 per litre in Delhi while a litre of diesel costs Rs 54.57.

The “discount will be credited to customer’s account by way of cash back within maximum three working days of the transaction,” IOC said in a statement here.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had last week announced a raft of measures including discounts on online payments for insurance policies, rail tickets and highway toll charges as the government looked to promote digital cash post demonetisation.

“As a part of these initiatives, to promote cashless transactions Government of India has announced to incentivise petrol/diesel customers transacting at PSU petrol pumps by way of 0.75 per cent discount when a customer uses Debit/Credit Cards, Mobile Wallets and Prepaid Loyalty Cards,” the statement said.

Also, on December 3, making a push to promote digital payment post demonetisation, petrol pumps across the country have installed infrastructure to accept not just credit and debit cards but e-wallets and mobile wallets as an alternative to cash.

Over 4,800 petrol pumps across the country are dispensing Rs 2,000 per card a day through POS machine swipes and have dispensed Rs 65 crore in the past two weeks.

(With PTI inputs)