(LiveMint)
State-owned oil marketing companies want banks to reduce card transaction fees for petrol and diesel purchases by half, four people aware of the development said. Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) will make the proposal at a meeting with banks on Monday, the people mentioned above said on condition of anonymity.
“We are in discussions with banks and a meeting is scheduled for 8 January. We don’t plan to pay more than what we are paying already. As per the latest rules, rates are higher. We want banks to halve it,” an official from an oil marketing companies (OMCs), one of the four people cited above, said on condition of anonymity.
Every card transaction attracts a fee called the merchant discount rate (MDR). This is paid by the merchant (in this case, the OMC) and shared by the bank which put up the swipe machine, the bank which issued the card and payment networks like Visa and MasterCard. MDR is not passed on to customers. Since February 2017, it is OMCs which pay MDR on behalf of their dealers.
