Now, a portal for auction of property seized by banks

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 28

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced the launch of eBक्रय portal to give people the choice of purchasing property worth over Rs 2 lakh crore seized by public sector banks.

“There was an asymmetry where properties were being sold for auction on a standalone basis. All properties have been brought on a common platform along with details such as photographs, reserve price etc. About 35,000 properties have been registered by banks and auctions have started online. This is a major step to being transparency into the entire system,’’ said senior Finance Ministry officials.

The platform is equipped with property search features and navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites.

Sitharaman also said the Department of Revenue (DoR) will soon notify RuPay and UPI as the prescribed mode of payment for undertaking digital transactions without any merchant discount rate (MDR). The last Union Budget had said that business establishments with annual turnover of more than Rs 50 crore would offer low cost digital modes of payment to their customers without charging MDR.

“Accordingly, all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more shall be mandated by DoR to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers,’’ said a statement.