Motorists will have to wait for discount on cashless fuel purchases

NEW DELHI: Consumers will have to wait longer to avail of the promised discount on cashless fuel purchases as oil companies are yet to figure out a way to implement it at filling stations across the country.

On Thursday, the government directed oil companies to offer a 0.75% discount on the sale price of petrol and diesel to consumers paying by digital means - an attempt to accelerate the switch to digital payments as banks and ATMs are short of cash.

An oil ministry official and a state oil company executive said the government and the companies are still working out the modality to implement the decision and may have clarity by Saturday.

Top executives of all three state fuel retailers – Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum – spent hours talking to each other and banks to figure out a practical way of applying this at petrol pumps.

To offer separate rates for cash and digital users or to have the same rate for all but allow cash-back to digital users were the two key ideas discussed by companies.

Nearly 4.5 crore customers buy petrol or diesel every day and collectively contribute about Rs 1,800 crore in transactions. Usually, just 20% of these transactions are digital, although in November these have risen to 40% of the total as cash-starved motorists were forced to use plastic cards or mobile wallets to pay for fuel.