Point to note: RuPay cards catch on fast for payments

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) today said it has witnessed a sudden spurt in usage of its RuPay cards at point of sale (PoS) terminals at shops and retail outlets, with the daily number and value of such transactions doubling over the last two days.
Following the announcement by the government on Tuesday night to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, banks and ATMs were closed and the public was left with no option but to use debit and credit cards to purchase products for their daily needs.
"During the last two days (November 9 and 10, 2016), RuPay usage on PoS or e-commerce was around 8 lakh transactions a day compared with a daily average of 4 lakh earlier," NPCI said in a statement today.

It said the value of transactions almost doubled in the last two days.
The usage of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) -- 24x7 remittance services -- doubled too.
"It is heartening to witness a good number of first-time users at PoS terminals. Using the PoS is even simpler than using on ATM. When there are restrictions on withdrawal of cash in the aftermath of demonetisation of notes, usage of payment cards at PoS for all day-to-day purchases is the ideal way to transact," NPCI MD and CEO A P Hota said.

Banks were shut on Wednesday and ATMs Wednesday and Thursday.

Despite opening of banks yesterday and ATMs today, many people were unable to withdraw any money due to unavailability of cash.
RuPay -- the domestic card -- is enabled on all three channels of ATMs, PoS and e-commerce.
The country has 14 lakh PoS terminals and all the terminals accept all brands of debit and credit cards.