RuPay Global Card consumers cross 64 million mark

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) said it has racked up 64 million RuPay Global Card consumers ever since it started issuing them in 2014.  

Rupay credit and debit cards are issued primarily for usage outside the country, in collaboration with US-based Discover Financial Services.

Discover Financial Services owns and operates Discover Bank, which offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, home equity loans, student loans and credit cards. It also owns Diners Club International.

“We have been focusing on growing international acceptance for our 64 million RuPay Global Card consumers. The acceptance of RuPay Global cards with the partnership of Discover reaches 41 million plus merchants, across 190 countries and is constantly growing,” Praveena Rai, chief operating officer of NPCI, stated in a press note.

RuPay debit and credit cards are currently issued by 40 banks and can be used for purchases at merchant locations and cash withdrawals on the Discover Global Network. Countries where the card can be used include the US, Singapore and Sri Lanka, the press note stated.

Based on the spend and withdrawal limit, Rupay’s debit and credit cards are available in five variants: Classic Debit Card, Classic Credit Card, Platinum Debit Card, Platinum Credit Card and Select Credit Card.

Another sign of Rupay’s popularity emerged in November 2018, when the central government said that indigenous payment systems like Rupay and UPI (Unified Payments Interface) have captured 65% of the volume of payments done through debit and credit cards.

Though RuPay, owned by many Indian and foreign banks, accounts for more than half of India’s one billion debit and credit cards, people from the industry say that Visa and Mastercard still process the vast majority of the value of payments transactions in the country.

The NPCI was set up in 2009 by the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association under the Section 25 of the Companies Act as a not-for-profit entity. Majority shareholders in NPCI include public sector undertakings.

NPCI provides central infrastructure for retail payments and has developed multiple services including National Automated Clearing House, Aadhaar Enabled Payment System, Unified Payments Interface and Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM).