The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“Ministry”) has, in a Notification dated 26th April, 2018 (“Amendment Notification”), made amendments in the Notification of the Ministry dated 5th June 2017 (“Previous Notification”) regarding the ‘BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) Cashback Scheme for Merchants’ (“Scheme”).
The Ministry has substituted provisions in paragraphs 2 and 3 of the Notification dated 5th June, 2017.
Key Amendments:
| Amendment Notification | Previous Notification | Implication |
| Para 2.1
The scope of the scheme shall be limited to merchants using BHIM unless revised otherwise. The scheme duration is stipulated as 6 months from the launch date of the scheme, and can be renewed based on government directions. |
Para 2.1
The scope of the scheme shall be limited to BHIM App users who have declared themselves as “I am a merchant” and have MCC “0000” and Merchants on-boarded by any bank receiving payment through BHIM-UPI and have MCC other than “0000”. The duration of the scheme is 12 months i.e. 1st April 2018 to 31st March 2019 and can be reviewed anytime based on the Government directions.
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Previously, the scheme was applicable to all merchants using BHIM.
After the amendment, the scope of the scheme is limited to only:
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| Para 3.1
Defined Transaction Criteria for Merchants to qualify for cashback are:
a. Min of 50 credit financial transactions of which atleast 20 transactions is from valid UPI unique customers including that of BHIM users.
b. The minimum transaction value for all above transactions should be Rs. 25/-. |
Para 3.1
Defined transactions criteria for merchants to qualify for the incentive are:
a) Minimum of 10 credit transactions per month for BHIM App User who has declared himself as “I am a merchant” and have MCC “0000” and minimum of 5 credit transactions per month for the merchant of any bank receiving payment through UPI and have MCC other than “0000”.
b) The minimum transaction value for the transactions eligible for incentive is Rs 25. |
Previously Para 3.1 dealt with the criteria for qualifying for cashback. After amendment, the Para 3.1 deals with the criteria for qualifying for the incentives under the scheme.
Moreover, after the amendment, in accordance with the amendment in Para 2.1, two separate criteria are provided for
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The Notification dated 26th April, 2018 also makes the following amendments:
- The incentive slab for merchants under Para 2.3. has been amended
- Annexures 1 and 2 have been deleted
Background:
The Ministry had notified the Scheme by the Previous Notification, with the objective to promote usage of BHIM-UPI amongst merchants by incentivizing its adoptions and also to encourage transactions via BHIM-UPI platform. The Scheme was made operational till 31st March, 2018.
Subsequently, the Ministry reviewed the scheme and issued the Amendment Notification.
Please refer to the hyperlinked source below (Pages 3-4) for further details.
Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
