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MobiKwik offers zero surcharge at petrol pumps, LPG payments
Domestic mobile wallet platform MobiKwik on Tuesday waived surcharge on payments at petrol pumps and LPG gas payments.
Domestic mobile wallet platform MobiKwik on Tuesday waived surcharge on payments at petrol pumps and LPG gas payments.
“The announcement of zero surcharge on all petrol pumps and LPG transactions will benefit consumers and will motivate them to continue using digital payments,” said Upasana Taku, Co-founder of MobiKwik, in a statement.
MobiKwik is currently accepted across petrol pumps and gas stations in 20 cities that includes all major Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum pumps in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Hyderabad, among others.
Other mobile wallets such as Paytm already offer such waivers at fuel pumps.
This announcement comes at a time when banks and fuel retailers are battling over transaction fees and surcharge levied when customers use debit or credit cards to buy fuel.
The banks – which charge between 0.25% and 1% fee on credit and debit card transactions – decided to defer imposing the levy on fuel retailers beyond January 13, the earlier deadline, after the government intervened.
The move to charge the fee -- also known as the merchant discount rate – has threatened to derail the government’s cashless drive.
Before the government scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 on November 8, customers paid a transaction fee along with a surcharge on it for buying fuel with debit or credit card. But for promoting cashless payments at petrol pumps, customers were exempted from paying these charges while the banks bore them.
