Is Fuel Surcharge Applicable On Debit Cards

In a developing country like India, the government is trying to boost digital payments, especially after the demonetisation drive, by imposing rules like no bank can levy fuel surcharge or transaction fee on a customer paying by debit card. 

An order from the RBI bars the banks from levying the fee on consumers, it directs them to collect it from the merchants. As per this, the fuel surcharge on debit cards was set from 0.25% to 1% including service tax. This means that if the consumers use the petrol station which is a private station then they are likely to pay a surcharge on the fuel. 

But there are many banks that offer 0% surcharge. For example HDFC Bank Debit Card allows its customers to spend 0% on fuel surcharge on fuel purchases at government petrol stations. The surcharge waiver is valid for HDFC Bank Debit Cards swiped in HDFC Bank terminals at selected Government petrol stations only. Other leading banks like Axis Bank, YES Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, and several others also offer debit cards with 0% fuel surcharges.