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Consumers with pre-paid connections will be able to do top-ups for a maximum of Rs 500 each using older currency notes till December 15, the finance ministry said Thursday evening, while announcing a list of services where older Rs 500 notes will be accepted for another 21 days.
“Payments towards pre-paid mobile top-up to a limit of Rs 500 per top-up,” the government said, adding that “payments for the transactions under all the exempted categories will now be accepted only through old Rs 500 notes.”
All exemptions, may be continued for a further period from the midnight of November 24, up to and inclusive of December 15, the government added.
The move will come a relief to more than 95% of India’s 1-billion plus mobile phone users, who have pre-paid connections.
“We're happy that the government has accepted our request,” said Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), that represents India's biggest carriers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
“The decision to extend the date would be beneficial for many pre-paid users and we welcome that,” he added.
Telecom operators had approached telecom secretary JS Deepak last week to relax
demonetisation rules for their retailers and distributors, such that they could accept older Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes just like petrol pumps and utilities, making the case for telecom as an essential service. The request made was for both pre-paid and post-paid users. The government has partially accepted telcos' request.
Demonetisation has taken a toll on mobile operators as prepaid recharges have dropped drastically since November 8. Much of the mobile account recharges are paid for in cash, which is in short supply following demonetisation, especially since mobile recharge is one of the non-essential expenses that people are cutting down on as they are unsure how long the crunch will continue.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam ( BSNL ) has been accepting the demonetised currency in the interest of consumers.
demonetisation: Demonetisation: Pre-paid recharges up to Rs 500 in old notes allowed till Dec 15 - ET Telecom
“Payments towards pre-paid mobile top-up to a limit of Rs 500 per top-up,” the government said, adding that “payments for the transactions under all the exempted categories will now be accepted only through old Rs 500 notes.”
All exemptions, may be continued for a further period from the midnight of November 24, up to and inclusive of December 15, the government added.
The move will come a relief to more than 95% of India’s 1-billion plus mobile phone users, who have pre-paid connections.
“We're happy that the government has accepted our request,” said Rajan Mathews, director general of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), that represents India's biggest carriers such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.
“The decision to extend the date would be beneficial for many pre-paid users and we welcome that,” he added.
Telecom operators had approached telecom secretary JS Deepak last week to relax
demonetisation rules for their retailers and distributors, such that they could accept older Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes just like petrol pumps and utilities, making the case for telecom as an essential service. The request made was for both pre-paid and post-paid users. The government has partially accepted telcos' request.
Demonetisation has taken a toll on mobile operators as prepaid recharges have dropped drastically since November 8. Much of the mobile account recharges are paid for in cash, which is in short supply following demonetisation, especially since mobile recharge is one of the non-essential expenses that people are cutting down on as they are unsure how long the crunch will continue.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam ( BSNL ) has been accepting the demonetised currency in the interest of consumers.
demonetisation: Demonetisation: Pre-paid recharges up to Rs 500 in old notes allowed till Dec 15 - ET Telecom
