RuPay to tap premium customers as banks renew deals with Visa, Mastercard

1. RuPay to tap premium customers as banks renew deals with Visa, Mastercard National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is looking at increased uptake of its RuPay debit cards among premium customers, as deals signed between banks and its global competitors Visa and MasterCard expire over the next few years. RuPay controls 42 per cent of the Indian debit card market, the share of its cards is only 16 per cent of total Point of Sale (PoS) and e- commerce transactions. This is largely due to the fact that the majority of RuPay cards — around 220 million "Visa and Mastercard are international companies, they have deep pockets. At the time of the launch of the RuPay debit card, they had signed three to five year deals with banks. Once these deals expire, and bankshave an opportunity to change their portfolio, they might consider RuPay," said A P Hota, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPCI. NPCI has already signed up over 750 banks, including cooperative banks and regional ruralbanks (RRBs), in the country, far larger than the 50 odd top banks Visa and Mastercard used to cater, prior to the RuPay's entry. Despite this deep penetration, top banks in the country continue to issue Visa and Mastercard debit cards instead of RuPay cards. "Visa is a sponsor for the Olympics. MasterCard is the co-sponsor of the Mumbai Indians IPL (Indian Premier League) team. We are just a small startup in comparison, a not for profit entity. It will take time for us to really build our muscles," Article Source By Business Standard