Use cards to get discount on petrol, diesel from today as govt pushes online payments

A discount of 0.75 percent on petrol and diesel will kick in from midnight tonight on fuel purchases made using card payments. The discount will start from midnight tonight 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 (IOC), the nation’s largest fuel retailer. The 0.75 percent 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. [caption id=“attachment_3153584” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption]The “discount will be credited to customer’s account by way of cashback within maximum three working days of the transaction,” IOC said in a statement. 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 percent discount when a customer uses Debit/Credit Cards, Mobile Wallets and Prepaid Loyalty Cards,” the statement said. The government had also waived service tax on card transactions of up to Rs 2,000. Similarly, 10 per cent and 8 percent discount will be offered in case of general and life insurance for buying new policy or paying premium online via PSUs websites. Announcing 11 decisions to promote digital transactions, Jaitley said monthly and seasonal suburban railway tickets purchased through digital mode will get 0.5 percent discount from January 1. Online booking of railway tickets will get Rs 10 lakh accident insurance. Those using digital mode to pay for railway catering, accommodation, retiring room will be entitled to discount of 5 percent. Public dealings with government departments and PSUs through digital mode will be free of transaction fee and MDR charges. A 10 percent discount will be available on use of digital mode for paying for RFID or fast-tags for highway toll. With PTI