70% want charges imposed on cash transactions to be removed: Survey

70% want charges imposed on cash transactions to be removed: Survey 

NEW DELHI: The recent changes made by private banks around charges being imposed on cash transaction have been met with opposition from consumers, with 70 per cent saying that these levies should be removed, a survey said. 

While banks are posing this move as another step towards making India a cashless economy, consumers are calling it a bad decision, according to survey conducted by LocalCircles. 

Around 70 per cent respondents of the 11,081 citizens voted on this poll want charges imposed by private banks on cash dealings to be removed, while 14 per cent said they will be fine with such levies once cashless transaction cost reduces. 

Asked about the latest charges imposed by private banks on cash transactions, 56 per cent said that they did not support this move and want the RBI to make the banks withdraw these levies immediately, 26 per cent said these charges don't matter as four free transactions were enough for them, and 4 per cent said that they were anyways using cashless operations. 

The survey noted that the charges on cash transactions is likely to prompt people to withdraw more than their requirements in one go and may actually result in higher magnitude of withdrawals and increased volume of cash transactions.

Consumers are also concerned with the cost of digital transactions and many of them have reported that merchants are still charging 2 per cent additional for debit, credit or wallet transactions. 

In a separate LocalCircles survey, consumers had indicated that debit card charges must be brought to zero while credit card and wallet charges must be capped at 0.5 per cent. 

A submission has been made by LocalCircles to the Department of Consumer Affairs, requesting them to take the matter with Reserve Bank of India and Ministry of Finance, LocalCircles said. 

Source:Economic Times