Banks seeks clarification on service charge on card business

Mumbai, Apr 4 (UNI) Commercial banks and plastic card issuers have approached the Finance Ministry for a clarification relating to the proposed imposition of service fees on card users in the country since such a move would have a definite impact on the popularity of the product.

''This is a backward move for the development of electronic payment system in the country'', said a top executive from the ICICI bank.

Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of a conferencec here today, ICICI Bank Executive Director Ms Chanda Kochhar said that banks were seeking clarification on the pattern of service charges on card users which could have an impact on the growth of the business.

Ms Kochhar also clarified that there was no liquidity tightness in the overall situation of the bank. However, the bank was forced to increase the deposit rates to augment additional resources to meet the growing demand for credit mainly from the retail segment including housing sector.

The recent interest rates was up due to the increase in cost of the funds, She said while launching its first Annuity card for pensioners in association with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.

The annuity Card will give pensioners the freedom to directly use their pensions for round-the-clock cash withdrawal from any VISA ATM in the country or cash free transactions,making it the most contemporary and convenient option to the decade-old sytem of receiving pension in the form of cheques.

The Card is available at no cost to all individuals-either retail or group customers-who buy an annuity from ICICI Prudential.

The card then can be used to withdraw money from any of over 2121 ICICI Bank ATMs across the country or to make purchase at more than 20,000 merchant establishments.

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