RuPay cards cross 10,000 milestone in Bhutan, 265,994 ATMs accept the cards

RuPay cards crossed the 10,000 mark in Bhutan. BHNL RuPay debit cards are widely accepted in more than 265,994 ATMs and 7.9 million PoS terminals to withdraw cash, balance inquiries and make payment

National Payments Corporations of India's (NPCI) international subsidiary, NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), informed that it has issued more than 10,000 RuPay cards, which is a global card payment network from India in Bhutan. Beyond Bhutan, Singapore, UAE, and Nepal have already started transactions through RuPay cards.

RuPay achieved this 10,000 mark with active collaboration with the partner bank of the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan - Bhutan National Bank Ltd (BNBL).

The BHNL RuPay debit cards are widely accepted in more than 265,994 ATMs and 7.9 million Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals deployed by the member bank of NPCI for withdrawing cash, checking balances and making purchases in India.

This initiative of cross-border payment between India and Bhutan aimed to promote low-cost digital payment solutions and offer digital financial inclusion.

The strategic partnership between NIPL and BNBL will ensure acceptance infrastructure for RuPay in Bhutan. The Bhutanese people are leveraging the RuPay cards as it offers them customised solutions for their payment-related issues.

This initiative will allow Bhutanese citizens to withdraw cash from any ATM and PoS terminals in India, and they can even make payment through Rupay cards.

As of now, only Bhutan National Bank is issuing RuPay Cards.

The NIPL said in a press note that the NPCI subsidiary is venturing into new international markets to widen the reach of the RuPay card.

Hem Kumar Acharya, Director of Banking Operations, Bhutan National Bank Ltd, said, “While we launched Rupay Card issuance in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are happy that the offtake has been impressive even during a period when travel was restricted, and not many people ventured out of Bhutan.”

He added that the bank is looking forward to an exponential increase in the number of customers using this card, by introducing more features, like acceptance of the card for online transactions, for payment of FastTag road toll transactions, etc, in the future.”