'Mastercard's investment in India during 2014-19 to stand at $1 bn'

Global payments major Mastercard on Thursday said its cumulative investment in India for the period of 2014-19 would stand at Rs 6,500 crore or around $1 billion to promote digital transactions in the country.

Started in 2014, the local investment includes acquisition of new offices in Bengaluru and Gurugram and a Mastercard Innovation Lab and operations hub in Pune, said a Mastercard statement.

"Committed to a model based on local investment, Mastercard will have invested approximately Rs 6,500 crore ($1 billion) between 2014 and 2019 to promote digital transactions in India," it said.

As per the statement, Mastercard has grown its India workforce from 29 in 2013 to around 2,000 currently, which is 14 percent of the global Mastercard workforce, and the largest outside the United States.

Out of total Rs 6,500 crore, around 75 per cent has been invested so far.

Porush Singh, country corporate officer, India and Division President, South Asia, Mastercard, said: "We strongly support the government's push towards establishing India as a less-cash society and have continuously invested in this vision."

Porush added: "80-85 per cent of the fees in debit card transactions go to financial institutions and other processors located in India for their services and will stay entirely within the Indian economy. Only 15-20 per cent will come to Mastercard as compensation for our network services. It is just between 12 and 15 paise in an INR 100 transaction. We stand absolutely committed to India's future. We firmly believe that the success of the Indian economy is the success of Mastercard."

--IANS

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