Mastercard, Dhoni launch campaign to push digital payments in India

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Payment technology major Mastercard and its brand ambassador M S Dhoni on Wednesday kicked-off campaign to bring more merchants and customers on board with an aim to boost digital payments in India.

The campaign - Team Cashless India - brings consumers and merchants to forefront of the digital payments dialogue, Mastercard said.

It encourages all Indians to nominate one or more merchants who currently do not accept digital payments.

Mastercard will work together with Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), acquirer banks and finance technology companies to support nominated merchants to deploy digital payments acceptance infrastructure.

This is in line with Mastercard's endeavour to create an ecosystem which encourages people to use digital payments for their day-to-day purchases, the company said.

Under Team Cashless India, anyone can either nominate merchants online or give a missed call to 9016861000.

To garner support for the campaign, Dhoni will interact with merchants and encourage them to 'bat' for a cashless India by accepting digital payments.

Mastercard will provide select nominated merchants and consumers with a chance to join Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Team Cashless India.

It will also conduct an outreach programme across multiple cities to educate merchants on the benefits of accepting digital payments and provide a platform for consumers to nominate merchants.

Ari Sarker, Co-President, Asia Pacific, Mastercard said, "Over the years, Mastercard has invested continuously and worked tirelessly to strengthen acceptance of digital payments amongst merchants, especially those in tier 2 and 3 cities, as they are the real drivers of India's economic growth".

Mastercard believes Team Cashless India will play a vital role in engaging consumers and merchants to propel India's transformation as a cashless economy, Sarkar said.

Dhoni urged consumers as well as merchants to become a part of his team and play a part in India's evolution as a digitally empowered cashless society.

With this, Mastercard envisages to equip 10 million merchants in the country with digital payments acceptance capabilities by 2020.

"The active involvement of cricketing legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni will provide the necessary impetus to the cash-to-digital conversation while CAIT, with its extensive network of over 70 million merchants and traders, will provide the necessary scale and reach via on-the-ground outreach to merchants," Mastercard said.

Partner banks and payment facilitators will work with merchants to install digital payments infrastructure at points of sale.

"This will not only enhance the convenience and safety of payments but also create new business opportunities for merchants, increasing their contribution to the Indian economy," said Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, CAIT.