Petrol pumps to instal e-wallet facility

As part of the Centre’s efforts to make India a cashless society, petrol pumps across the country will instal infrastructure to accept not only credit and debit cards, but also e-wallets and mobile wallets as an alternative to cash, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday.

“As many as 29,905 petrol pumps across the country have POS (point of sale) machines that allow swiping cards to pay for fuel and also dispense cash. As many as 4,700 outlets now accept e-wallets and mobile wallets,” the minister said, adding, “The service is being added to 1,000 to 1,200 outlets every second day.”

“Out of 385 petrol pumps in Delhi, POS machines where ATM/debit card/ credit card or loyalty cards can be swiped are installed at 381, and all e-wallets like Paytm and MobiKwik and mobile wallets are accepted as a mode of payment at 222 outlets,” he said, adding that the same facility will be extended to almost 53,077 petrol pumps across the country.

He said that over 4,800 petrol pumps across the country have been dispensing Rs 2,000 per card a day through the POS swipe machines and have dispensed Rs 65 crore in the past two weeks.

The minister said the government will launch a month-long awareness drive at all petrol pumps in the first phase to promote digital payment services. Petrol pumps will instal kiosks to help people not just buy fuel, but also tell them to use online payment solutions.

In the second phase, an awareness programme will be held across all LPG distributing agencies and at CNG pumps. The petroleum ministry has signed an MoU with Common Service Centres of the Ministry Information Technology to deploy trainers at retail outlets of oil marketing companies to train the public on the use of various e-payment options.