As expected, Union Budget 2017 aims to provide a huge boost to the country’s digital payment revolution. Measures like exemption of import duty on all types of PoS devices, additional 10 to 20 lakh POS terminals, no service charges on IRCTC bookings strengthens the way ahead for digital transactions.
“Incentivization schemes on digital payments for merchants, along with the ban on cash transactions above Rs 3 Lacs will provide a huge boost to the country’s digital payment revolution. Also as per the recommendation of the Dr Ratan Watal Committee - creating a Payment Regulatory Board (PRB) within RBI is a great start,” said Naveen Surya – MD, ItzCash and Chairman, Payments Council of India. Also read: Budget 2017: 10 Iconic Budgets That Made a Difference
We believe additional direction towards bringing parity between physical cash and digital payment transactions along with 'Interoperability' and access to a unified payment infrastructure with the absorption of merchant discount rates by the government allowing non-bank PSPs to directly access payments systems of (RTGS & NEFT) would also follow soon,” added Surya.
“It was a moment of pride for all of us at NPCI to see Hon’ble Finance Minster mentioning about Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) and its potential to take India towards the digital economy in his budget speech today. We will support the mission of achieving 2,500 crore digital transactions for FY 2017-18 through UPI, USSD *99#, IMPS, Aadhaar Pay, RuPay Debit cards and other upcoming products of NPCI. By banks deploying more PoS terminals, introducing incentivizing schemes and creating use cases, we are confident that NPCI’s Mission to ‘Touch Every Indian by 2020’ will be achieved comfortably,” said A. P. Hota, MD & CEO, NPCI. Also read: FM Axes Tax Rates, Opens FDI Floodgates in a Rural-Heavy Budget
“Tax breaks on the POS devices as well as other devices will hopefully ensure affordability for the devices and help foster better penetration for digital payments," said Dewang Neralla, MD & CEO, Atom Technologies.
“Abolition of FIPB is one such encouraging measure which will enhance the ease of doing business in the country. Overall it is a growth-oriented budget with the government undertaking multiple measures to provide the necessary impetus to the economy,” said Deven Mehta, Managing Director, Smart Card IT Solutions Ltd.
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