How merchant discount rate can drive credit card acceptance in a big way

Is it time to rethink the MDR on credit cards in general, to boost their usage?

Credit card numbers in India continue to hit new highs; in April, the issued base was 86.5 million, with total spending at Rs 1.32 trillion. Yet for such an in-your-face business, the country has one of the lowest “credit-card activation rates” in the world. Over half the plastic is not activated by customers within the first three months after it reaches their wallets. And of the 86.5 million base, those who hold a single card account for nearly 50 million.

Mint Road’s move to pair RuPay credit cards with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in June last year was spoken of