Prepaid cards register 40 per cent year-on-year growth: Report

Prepaid cards have registered a 40 per cent growth year-on-year (yoy) in the country, which is more than other forms of debit or credit instrument, a report said today.
While there are 400 million debit cards in the country against 25 million credit cards, they account for transactions worth Rs 740 billion (60 per cent of all transactions conducted through credit cards). Prepaid cards account for Rs 79 billion or in 11 per cent of the debit card transaction size, the report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA) said.
Among major players covered in the report, ItzCash prepaid card is the only private sector prepaid card player which has been considered.

"We have 25 million active customers, of which 20 million transact on a mobile or an electronic platform. Industry level business growth is approximately 40 per cent year-on-year and ItzCash has been surpassing this average continuously. With over 80 million accounts (prepaid) it undoubtedly makes us the largest in prepaid payments solutions space in the country," ItzCash Card Managing Director Naveen Surya said.
However, he said that the prepaid card industry in the country is a mere USD 20 billion when compared to the US prepaid card industry's size at USD 400 billion.
US-based prepaid firms like Green Dot and NetSpend are some of the other companies mentioned in the report.

Global Industry Analysts (GIA) is a publisher of market research reports and it recently released a comprehensive global report on prepaid card markets.