The government on Monday removed excise duty on goods for manufacturing POS (Point of Sale) machines that are in great demand as merchants are being compelled to use them in the wake of the currency crisis.
“POS machines will be exempted from 12.5 per cent excise duty and 4 per cent SAD (Special Additional Duty) till March 31, 2017,” a source said.
A notification to this effect was tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha on Monday amid uproar over the demonetisation issue.
The notification “exempts Central Excise/CV duty on all goods for manufacture of POS devices subject to actual user condition and these exemptions will be valid till March 31, 2017.”
There has been spurt in demand for POS machines on account of cash crunch following the scrapping of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes with effect from the midnight of November 8.
The POS machines are hand-held devices, which are being increasingly used by merchants to accept payments for goods sold through credit and debit cards.
