After de-monetising old INR 500 notes and all INR 1000 notes, the Government and RBI, in their circulars have asked people to resort to using their credit cards/ debit cards and other wireless methods of currency transactions to smooth over the current process of bills conversion.

In light of this, I request credit cards also be treated as currency as opposed to the standard practice wherein the RBI treats credit card transactions as loan transactions per various circulars. Further there is a standard fee plus a 2.5% (approx) Service Tax on NEFT transactions. In the current situation an unprecedented number of exchanges will be made through these mediums as there is no other alternative left with the people. Therefore all financial charges/ interest rates/ services taxes with regard to credit cards and other add on costs should ideally be waived until such time as hard cash is deemed to be in regular circulation again.

As of now, some banks have waived cash deposit charges, atm withdrawal fees and increased credit limits but there is no clarity as to which banks these are and therefore it ought to be, in my humble opinion, the initiative of the RBI to clarify the same and bring about some uniformity in application of the same. Moreover, it would only be fair for the RBI to oversee these transactions as it is part of a reformative process and not business as usual in a free market scenario.