India is one of the fastest-growing major economy in world and we need to become in-depended in every way possible. In an aim to reduce our dependence on international card schemes VISA and Mastercards, India Government has brought up – RuPay, a new card payment scheme created by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). At an event in Rashtrapati Bhavan today (8th May 2014), President Pranab Mukherjee dedicated RuPay to the nation.
RuPay cards are much similar to cards from Visa or Mastercard and will address the needs of Indian consumers, merchants and banks. It offers following benefits –
- Lower cost and affordability – as transaction are happening domestically it would lead to lower cost of clearing and settlement for each transaction. This offering transaction cost affordable and will drive usage of cards in the industry.
- Privacy – All transaction and customer data related to RuPay card transactions will reside in India.
- Customized product offering – RuPay, being a domestic scheme is committed towards development of customized product and service offerings for Indian consumers.
- Electronic product options – There are under-penetrated/untapped consumers segments in rural areas that do not have access to banking and financial services. Right pricing of RuPay products would make the RuPay cards more economically feasible for banks to offer to their customers. In addition, relevant product variants would ensure that banks can target the untapped consumer segments.
- Inter-operability between payment channels and products – RuPay card is uniquely positioned to offer complete inter-operability between various payments channels and products.
Around 7 millions RuPay debit cards have been issued so far and its been currently accepted at over 1.6K ATMs, 95% PoS terminals and all major commerce platforms including IRCTC.