Now, deposit cash using card swipe machines

MUMBAI: Credit card swipe machines, which are used for making payments, will also be enabled soon to accept deposits. MasterCard has tied up with banks that install point of sales (PoS) terminals to accept cash deposits for loading onto prepaid cards. The payments company has already got this proposal cleared with the RBI and would be launching this service rePower shortly .

Speaking to TOI, Mastercard's South Asia division president Porush Singh said that around eight lakh PoS terminals out of the existing 12 lakh would accept cash. Enabling PoS terminals to accept cash deposits will also offset cash going out through cash-at-PoS service, which allows merchants to swipe debit cards for cash. According to Singh, one of the reasons cash at PoS has not picked up is because customers have free access to five transactions in ATMs, although ATMs are a more expensive option than PoS machines.But the use of such PoS machines is expected to rise with many of the new payments banks planning to tap them.

“We are also working together with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents over 5 crore small shops, to promote card payments in kirana stores,“ said Singh. According to CAIT national secretary Praveen Khandelwal, the two have been holding sessions to adopt digital technology to compete with e-commerce.

“We expect that with GST there will be big push toward electronic payments, which has already been announced by the government. To enable this, we have asked for lowering of charges on cards on removal of customs duty on PoS terminals,“ Khandelwal added.