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Panel Approves Cashback For Payments Via BHIM App, Rupay Cards 

Group of state finance ministers suggests 20 percent GST cashback for payments via BHIM app, Rupay  cards.

A customer uses the Globe Telecom Inc. GCash mobile payment application on a smart phone. Representational image. (Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg)
A customer uses the Globe Telecom Inc. GCash mobile payment application on a smart phone. Representational image. (Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg)

A panel of state finance ministers approved a proposal to incentivise payments made using the BHIM app or Rupay cards.

Digital transactions through Rupay cards, and Unified Payments Interface-based BHIM app will get consumers a cashback of 20 percent of the total goods and services tax amount paid on a particular item, subject to the ceiling of Rs 100, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi told reporters.

For example, a consumer who uses BHIM app or Rupay card to buy an item costing Rs 100, including Rs 18 as GST, will get Rs 3.60 cashback.

Modalities of how and by when will the amount be credited to consumers’ bank account will be worked out once the GST Council approves the proposal, Modi, chairman of the Group of Ministers, told reporters. Revenue implications of the move would be Rs 1,000 crore a year and will be shared equally between central and state governments, said Modi.

Modi said the move to provide cashback to users of BHIM app and Rupay cards is aimed at encouraging digital payments in semi-urban and rural areas.

The panel comprises Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Haryana Taxation and Excise Minister Captain Abhimanyu, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra.