Zero Commission, Zero Competition. While the banks were collecting 30% of the profit margin of the petrol station, faced with the pressure of refusing credit card payments from the Petrol Retailers Association which groups 75% of the petrol stations in the country, Sherry Singh, CEO of Mauritius Telecom offered THE Solution through MyT Money by removing its previous commission of 0.5%. This is the signing of a new partnership or rather a takeover by Mauritius Telecom in the petrol stations.
Bhim Sunassee: “We didn’t want to pass this 30% fee to motorists neither.”
The discontinuation of the use of the bank card was announced for this April 1st, and this was not going to be an April fool’s joke for motorists. They would have been forced to carry cash to buy fuel. The service stations found no other way to protest against the banks’ imposition of a profit margin per litre of fuel. “We didn’t want to pass on this 30% fee to motorists either. Mauritius Telecom’s help through the design of Sherry Singh is a lifesaver for both the service stations and the motorist,” PRA president Bhimraj Sunassee told Le Matinal. Mauritius Telecom is already considered the saviour of service station owners and users.
30% too much
Cashless Payment constitutes more than 75% of the daily payments at a petrol station, whether it is filling up or buying in the Shops or car services. But the petrol station loses 30% of its profit margin on each litre of fuel because the bank takes a 1% commission. Taking petrol for example which is Rs 61.30, its profit margin is Rs 2.07 and the commission that the petrol station pays to banks and financial services is 0.62 cent.. Of the remaining Rs 1.45, after calculating the various costs of the petrol station, employees etc, the petrol station collects Rs 0.43 on a litre of petrol. With Mauritius Telecom’s solution, it benefits a total of Rs 1.05 on a litre of petrol. Moreover, Bhimraj Sunassee tells us that “MyT Money was already charging a lower percentage than other banks and financial services. Instead of 1%, Mauritius Telecom was taking about 0.5%. We were and are much more profitable with MyT Money, especially with the total withdrawal of commissions. We will lead motorists to use MyT Money by card or by mobile application or by cash. This will be a transitional phase. We can no longer work with other banks. They were very disappointed with our loss when we pleaded to reduce the percentage. Only MCB made a small gesture, but it was like taking a bowl of water out of the ocean,” says the manager of the Central petrol station in Rose Hill.
Profits v/s social responsibility
Sherry Singh, at the public announcement of this exclusive partnership, at the Telecom Tower in Port Louis, said that “As a commercial enterprise, Mauritius Telecom had to find financially profitable solutions to move forward Profits v/s social responsibility
Sherry Singh, at the public announcement of this exclusive partnership, at the Telecom Tower in Port Louis, said that “As a commercial enterprise, Mauritius Telecom had to find financially profitable solutions to move forward but the interest of the population and the service stations took precedence over our decisions. Mauritius Telecom is acting as a catalyst for the economy but also in respect to its social responsibility. MyT Money is a mobile wallet that makes it easy to pay and manage your money securely via a mobile application and a payment card.
Currently, the MyT teams are working to equip all interested petrol stations with MyT Money devices. In this way, card payments will be strongly discouraged by those who still have this method of payment. Within the PRA, members tell us that “the majority are ready to switch to MyT Money exclusively including Quick Pay via QR Code Scan even for purchases in the Shops or the payment of other services available at the service stations.” The president of the PRA warns us that “not all service stations will be equipped by April 1st. We will be forced to use traditional methods during this exclusive transition period to MyT Money.
Advantages, limitations and interrogations
Cashless payment methods will remain temporarily available via Fleetman Card, MCB Juice and Bank One POP. The MyT Money remains dependent on the Wallet Cash IN which can be done in person at a MyT Shop where the holder fills his account with cash, an amount of Rs 20,000 daily or via a deposit from his main bank, namely each Instant Cash IN carries a Service Charge. The MyT is currently working with only three banks, ABSA which charges a service fee of Rs1 per deposit. MCB and SBM charge 0.2% of the transaction amount but are capped at Rs 5. The only snag with MyT Money is the cash-out limits which are limited to Rs 5000 per day. With Mauritius Telecom’s stranglehold on the petrol stations, there will be no competition with other banks, unless they also switch to the Zero Commissions formula. Thus, the questions that arise at this stage are: will the service stations find it useful to keep their telephone and internet subscriptions with the other operators Emtel and MTML? In this approach or rather strategy is Mauritius Telecom not sweeping aside any form of competition in the service station population? What other commercial spaces will follow? Those that are in the petrol station area or have a petrol station in its compound or next to it? but the interest of the population and the service stations took precedence over our decisions. Mauritius Telecom is acting as a catalyst for the economy but also in respect to its social responsibility. MyT Money is a mobile wallet that makes it easy to pay and manage your money securely via a mobile application and a payment card.
Currently, the MyT teams are working to equip all interested petrol stations with MyT Money devices. In this way, card payments will be strongly discouraged by those who still have this method of payment. Within the PRA, members tell us that “the majority are ready to switch to MyT Money exclusively including Quick Pay via QR Code Scan even for purchases in the Shops or the payment of other services available at the service stations”. The president of the PRA warns us that “not all service stations will be equipped by April 1st. We will be forced to use traditional methods during this exclusive transition period to MyT Money.
