Debit Card Holders Can Withdraw Cash from any ATM 'Free of Charge' for Next 3 Months: Finance Minister

New Delhi, March 24, 2020:

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced that ATM withdrawal charges will be waived off for the next three months in order to help citizens in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic or COVID-19.

Sitharaman, through a video press conference, said, "Debit card holders, who withdraw cash from any bank ATM can do it free of charge for the next three months. You may have a debit card of a particular bank but now you will be allowed to withdraw cash from any ATM without any additional charges."

The Finance Minister added, "There shall not be any minimum balance requirement fee. So there will be a complete waiver of fee for minimum balance. We shall reduce bank charges for digital trade transactions for all trade finance consumers."

This means banks customers who were required to maintain a minimum specified balance in their savings accounts will not be penalized for not doing so for the next three months.

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In addition to the waiver, the Finance Minister said that the Aadhar-PAN linking date has also been extended to June 30 from March 31.

Considering the rising cases of coronavirus, the Central Government has also asked all the State Governments to deploy fiscal resources for establishing additional medical facilities such as hospitals, clinical labs, isolation wards, expanding & upgrading existing facilities to combat the challenge posed by COVID19. These facilities need to be well equipped with ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPEs), masks and drugs to treat the patients.

The final tax filing for the financial year 2018-19 has been extended to June 30, 2020. The last date for filing Goods &Services Tax (GST) returns for March, April and May, 2020 has also been extended to June 30.

Other slew of announcements are -- the interest rate for delayed payment has been slashed from 12% to 9%. With regard to GST return filing, no late fee and penalty will be charged for companies with turnover of over Rs 5 crore.

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The deadlines for several financial schemes and obligations have also been extended to June 30 including the "Vivad se Vishwas" initiative.

The Finance Minister has assured that the government is working to come up with an economic package to help the industry tackle COVID-19 pandemic.

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