NPCI plans more tie-ups to boost global acceptability of RuPay debit cards

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is exploring options for further tie-ups to strengthen the global acceptability of RuPay debit cards.

Currently, RuPay cards are accepted at the points of sale (PoS) machine powered by Discover of the US, Diners Club, JCB of Japan, Pulse and Union Pay of China.

This needs to be strengthened, and NPCI is working in this direction so that users of RuPay cards are at par with those using Visa or Mastercard, sources said.

In March 2012, RuPay went global by tying up with Discover Financial Services to bring international services to Indians.

It has strengthened its network capabilities by launching RuPay JCB Global Card in association with JCB International Co Ltd in July 2019.

The RuPay JCB Global card can be used at RuPay card accepting points in India and JCB card accepting points outside India for PoS, E-Commerce and ATM.

RuPay, a product of NPCI, is the domestic card payment network of India, with wide acceptance at ATMs, POS devices and e-commerce websites across India.

Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet approved a scheme worth Rs 2,600 crore for the promotion of RuPay debit cards and low-value BHIM-UPI (Bharat Interface for Money- Unified Payments Interface) transactions.

Under the scheme, the banks are provided financial incentives to foster Point of Sale (PoS) devices and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and UPI.

The scheme is aimed at building a robust digital payment ecosystem and promoting UPI Lite and UPI123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payment options.