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For banks, the customer is still king when it comes to choosing their preferred payment gateway for debit and credit cards. “We always offer RuPay cards, but we leave the choice to customers when it comes to opting for the card they want,” said a senior bank executive, who did not wish to be named.
Another senior banker also said typically almost all banks offer RuPay cards, but it depends on the customer to decide. “Most banks tend to have at least two partnerships, and they offer both to the customers. It is then up to them to decide,” said the banker.
Industry sources also pointed out customers who tend to travel abroad frequentlyare not keen on a RuPay card as their primary card due to concerns over its network and availability.
“Typically, for such customers, it can be the second preference as they want a card that has wider acceptance internationally,” noted the sources.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had, last month, exhorted banks to promote RuPay cards only.
RuPay was developed as a domestic card payment network and launched in 2012. By January 2020, there were over 60 crore RuPay cards issued. As many as 1,148 banks, including public sector banks, private sector banks, regional rural and co-operative banks issue RuPay cards. Its competitors include Visa and Mastercard.
To address concerns about the limited reach, the National Payment Corporation of India has been working on an international presence for RuPay cards. In November 2019, NPCI and JCB International, together with Indian banks, had launched RuPay JCB Global Cards. In August this year, NPCI also set up NPCI International Payments Limited with the primary to internationalise RuPay and UPI.
Earlier this month, State Bank of India, NPCI and JCB International also announced the launch of SBI RuPay JCB Platinum contactless debit card.
Meanwhile, others have pointed out that penetration of digital payments still remains low in the country. TR Ramachandran, Visa’s country manager for India and South Asia, had recently noted that digital payments penetration is very low in India at only 18 per cent of overall personal consumption expenditure. “We all have our roles to play,” Ramachandran had said last month.
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