Mumbai, Feb 16 (KNN) The Reserve Bank of India will reimburse Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) charges to banks for payments made since 1 January through debit cards by citizens, the apex bank said today.

In December 2016, the government had decided to absorb the merchant discount rate (MDR) charges in respect of debit card transactions for making payments to it. The move was aimed to encourage people to use digital payments post demonetisation.

“In order to operationalise the (government’s direction), the Reserve Bank will reimburse banks MDR on debit cards used for payment of tax and non-tax dues to the government of India with effect from 1 January 2017,” the central bank said in a notification.

Agency Banks have been asked to forward their claim for reimbursement of MDR along with statutory auditor’s certificate, as in the case of agency commission claims, to RBI’s Nagpur office on a quarterly basis.

The banks will also have to certify that MDR charges for transaction amounts up to Rs1 lakh have not been collected from the payer.

The first such claim may be made by April 30, 2017 for the quarter ending March 31, 2017, said RBI. (KNN Bureau)