Few takers for plastic money8217; holy city

The ME pays 2 to 3.5 per cent commission on sales to the concerned bank who credit the amount in the ME account in a day or two. Now with the bank8217;s refusal to honour the chargeslip some of the MEs are directly sending to the head office of the respective card but are reluctant in doing so as the whole procedure takes more than three weeks.

Though various banks who had launched massive campaigns to float and popularise the 8216;plastic money8217; as the substitute of cash and lured the customers with facilities including cash withdrawals are unaware of the acceptance of their 8216;privileged8217; cards.

Almost all the MEs are not accepting Visa and Mastercard and have even removed the stickers displaying the acceptance of credit cards from their premises. Although couple of hotels are still accepting these cards on their own risk.

Ravi Kumar, an owner of a garment shop said that after receiving a letter from ANZ Grindlays bank refusing to honour the charge slip he had removed the display of acceptance of credit cards from his shop. He said despite paying commission to the bank they had withdrawn the facility. He said that his business had declined because of prevailing uncertain situation.

Davinder Mehra of Raymond retail shop also echoes the same opinion. He said the banks had demanded a minimum business of Rs 5 lakh per month. He believes no shop in the city can meet the target.

Kamaljit Singh of Sardar Hatti said that though the business had been affected, the shopkeepers have been saved from the hassle of sending vouchers to the bank and long wait for the reimbursement.

He hoped the bankers would certainly come back with the service and that too with modern gadgets like laser machines to check any fraud as the conventional hotlist and alert list were outdated methods.

Kalyan S. Sarpal of Garmento said American Express card was much favoured although they had to send the vouchers to Delhi to get it encashed but their payment was quick and have much large network.

Umesh Kumar of Memento India said their business had suffered ever since ANZ Grindlays refused to accept the card. quot;Now we accept only American Express cards,quot; he added.

Shaminder Singh who runs Benetton showroom said, quot;We are ready to accept the card under revised terms.quot;

An official of ANZ Grindlays bank, when contacted, said any arrangement what so ever is between MEs and card service division of the bank and local branch has nothing to do with it. Another manager of a leading bank on condition of anonymity said MEs Were not giving enough business.

Santokh Singh, senior manager of Canara Bank however said he had not got any complaint as yet and would certainly look into the complaints if any. The worst affected are the tourists who visit the holy city carrying their credit cards for convenience. Sukhdev Khindri from Delhi said he was shocked to know that his credit card was of no value here except to withdraw cash from the bank which is a cumbersome procedure.

M.S. Virdi who had come to visit Golden Temple from London said he didn8217;t carry much cash with him. quot;I was surprised to know that even reputed cards are not accepted here,quot; he said.