IDFC Bank, MobiKwik partner to launch a virtual prepaid card

IDFC Bank, MobiKwik, and Net1 have partnered to launch a co-branded virtual prepaid card on the Visa platform to customers of MobiKwik.

Around 65 million users of the MobiKwik wallet will gain access to an IDFC Bank virtual card embedded within the app, making digital purchases at all e-commerce merchants easier and faster.

Customers of MobiKwik can generate a 16-digit Visa virtual card through the app and use it for e-commerce and online transactions. This is one of the largest issuances of virtual prepaid cards globally.

The partnership marks IDFC Bank's biggest foray into the prepaid card segment and significantly enhances MobiKwik's wallet acceptance across Visa's network.

Net 1, a leading international payments company, is a partner and a strategic investor in MobiKwik, and has provided its proprietary virtual pre-paid card lifecycle management technology for this.

"The prepaid card space is evolving fast, encouraged by technological disruption and a growing preference for digital payments. IDFC Bank's prepaid solutions seamlessly integrate its technology stack with that of MobiKwik, to not only digitise payments but make them transformational, from a customer experience standpoint. This marks the beginning of a long-term strategic alliance where both partners can leverage their respective strengths. We are delighted to partner MobiKwik, Visa and Net1 for one of the largest ever issuance of prepaid cards," said executive director IDFC Bank, Avtar Monga.

"On the first anniversary of demonetisation, we are happy to note that Indians are fast developing a digital mindset and paying with the MobiKwik wallet has become a habit for millions of Indians. The IDFC powered virtual card will enable MobiKwik users to transact digitally across millions of merchants both on the Mobikwik and Visa networks," said co-founder Mobikwik, Upasana Taku.

"Prepaid instruments are rapidly gaining importance to expand the digital payments market in India. With less than 10 percent of personal consumption expenditure being digital in India, a wider variety of payment instruments helps bring more consumers into the digital payments habit. Helped by a growing number of available applications and acceptance platforms, virtual prepaid cards are fast emerging as a popular form of payment amongst the new breed of online shoppers in India," said group country manager India and South Asia for Visa, T R Ramachandran.

Recently, MobiKwik has formed a string of smart partnerships with leading blue-chip brands such as BSNL, Bajaj Finserv Ltd., and IndusInd Bank, thus starting to impact almost 260 million Indians.

In August 2017, BSNL went digital by launching a bespoke mobile wallet developed and issued by MobiKwik.

Recently, the company has partnered with Bajaj Finserv Ltd. to develop an EMI wallet through which customers can avail credits and loans.

MobiKwik has also developed India's first auto-load wallet for IndusInd Bank's 10 million plus customers, who can make purchases just by tapping their wallet and their money gets automatically debited from their IndusInd account.

The co-branded card is set to be launched in early December.