Petrol, railway tickets to be cheaper via digital payments, announces Jaitley

New Delhi: In bid to promote less-cash economy, the government on Thursday announced discount on an array of services from buying petrol to insurance and railway tickets through the digital mode and waived service tax on card transactions of up to Rs 2,000.

A discount of 0.75 per cent will be offered on purchase of petrol and diesel through either, credit/debit cards, e-wallets and mobile wallets.

Similarly, 10 per cent and 8 per cent 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, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that monthly and seasonal suburban railway tickets purchased through digital mode will get 0.5 per cent 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 per cent.

Jaitley said that public dealings with government departments and PSUs through digital mode will be free of transaction fee and MDR charges. Also credit/debit card transactions up to Rs 2,000 will be exempt from service tax.

The minister further said 10 per cent discount will be available on use of digital mode for paying for RFID or fast-tags for highway toll.

"We were using excessive amount of cash and very very limited amount of digital transactions till November 8," he said, adding there is cost of transacting in cash which has to be borne by economy.