Visa complains to US govt about India backing for local rival RuPay

Mastercard Inc has raised similar concerns privately with the USTR

Visa Inc has complained to the U.S. government that India's "informal and formal" promotion of domestic payments rival RuPay hurts the U.S. giant in a key market, memos seen by Reuters show.
 

In public Visa has downplayed concerns about the rise of RuPay, which has been supported by public lobbying from Prime Minister Narendra Modi that has included likening the use of local cards to national service.
 

But U.S. government memos show Visa raised concerns about a "level playing field" in India during an Aug. 9 meeting between U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai and company executives, including CEO Alfred