Cheaper Fuel, Discounts on Rail Tickets, Insurance As Govt Goes All Out

One month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced scrapping 500 and 1000 rupee notes, the government is now going all out in a bid to move the country to a digital economy. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced more measures to incentivise cashless transactions. Now be it retail transactions, buying of fuel or railway tickets, you stand to gain if the payment is done digitally.

Here is how you can benefit by using digital mode for following transactions:

1) You no longer need to pay 15% service tax on any transaction done using debit or credit cards. Service tax has been removed on all transactions up to Rs 2,000. This is expected to provide a major boost.

2) Use cards or e-wallets and get a 0.75% discount on petrol and diesel purchases. Around 4.5 crore consumers purchase fuel every day who can now avail of this discount.

3) 1 lakh villages with population upto 10,000 will get 2 PoS machines. Around 75 crore people will get access to these machines.

4) Suburban train passengers who pay digitally for their tickets will get a 0.5% discount. This discount will be applicable from January 1, 2017. Railways passengers who purchase tickets online will get free insurance coverage worth Rs 10 lakhs.

5) Public sector insurance companies will give a discount of 10% on general insurance policies and 8% discount on life insurance policies, if the premiums are paid online.

6) Government bodies will not charge a transaction fee for digital payments.

7) 10% discount for those who pay digitally and use Smart TAGs and RFID facilities at toll plazas on national highways