The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will raise ₹100 crore through a private placement by December, according to its Chairman M Balachandran.

“The private placement is not to raise money alone but to broad-base our promoters. We want more number of public sectors banks and other categories of banks, including cooperative banks, to come on board,” he told newspersons.

NPCI has planned a series of new launches, including a co-branded RuPay debit card with MUDRA Bank, a credit card and tie-ups with international payments solutions network providers in the next one year, he said.

The co-branded card with MUDRA Bank, which provides loans at low rates to microfinance institutions and non-banking financial institutions, is mainly for micro entrepreneurs.

There is a similar card for farmers called Kisan card, he said while announcing a nation-wide e-payment literacy workshop on the eve of World Literacy Day.

Overseas network NPCI is in the final stages of discussions with China Union Pay (CUP) and Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) for use of each other’s payment networks.

The tie-up will allow RuPay credit card holders to withdraw money at ATMs or transact through a point-of-sale (POS) machine abroad. Visitors to India using CUP and JCB cards will be able to transact through the NPCI network, he said.

NPCI has a similar pact with Discovery Network Merchants, which operates Diners Club International. With tie-ups with CUP and JCB, the RuPay international credit card can be used in most parts of the world, he said.

Set up in 2009 as the central infrastructure for various retail payment systems, the NPCI is promoted by the Indian Banks’ Association and 10 banks, including six public sector banks, two private banks and two foreign banks.

NPCI is increasing the capacity of its payment ‘switch’ to handle nearly 100 million transactions daily.

At present, NPCI handles around 20 million transactions a day and will expand it to 40 million in two months. The increase in volume will be mainly to facilitate government subsidy transactions, including those based Aaadhar, he said.

The literacy workshop will be hosted across all 56 regional rural banks at 120 centres.

Over 24,000 participants will join the initiative at the same time.

This is a first of its kind e-payments workshop to be held where participants will be familiarised on various issues, including ATMs and their features, he said.

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