The journey of RuPay cards has been fantastic, and the focus now will be on the One Nation One Card project, said Praveena Rai, Chief Operating Officer, National Payments Corporation of India. In an interview with BusinessLine , Rai, who joined in February, says all RuPay cards will now be on the National Common Mobility Card platform, and that NPCI is tying up with mass transit systems across the country. Excerpts:

RuPay One Nation One Card was launched in March. How is it shaping up?

It is a contactless card and we are launching it as a transit proposition, which will be used in a number of metros across the country. It is already there in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Kochi, Nagpur and Noida. We have also got Navi Mumbai Transport Corporation onboard. The idea is that you could be a Mumbai resident, have a card in your wallet, and use it at ATMs, merchants, online, and also for public transport and metro. For tap-and-go, timing is a critical requirement, and it can be done in seconds. Our teams are working on it; you can actually do it in seconds. We are expecting this to be our flagship proposition as we move forward. Currently, it is being looked at for transit, para transit, parking and tolls, and later we will get this onto retail space as well. The response has been fantastic. From now on, we are expecting all new RuPay Cards to be on this National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) platform.

Has the usage of RuPay cards by Jan Dhan account holders improved?

Interestingly, we operate in all parts of the pyramid, and there is a risk of being positioned in one part because we are the only player in that part. But nearly 50 per cent of our base is in the mid and top-end income segments. Jan Dhan account holders are now using their cards at ATMs and merchants outlets. But the availability to use is less in parts of the country, where merchant acceptance is not as deep as in urban locations. So, that is something we will be doing more work on.

The Delhi High Court recently asked how Google Pay could operate without a licence from the RBI. How will it impact the multiple payment service operators? Will they all require RBI registration?

I don’t want to comment on what’s happening in the court. But as a market infrastructure player, our products have rules of engagement. Like in RuPay, there is the issuing bank, acquiring bank, the merchant – each has a role to play – and must adhere to certain rules. So, all our players, anyone who is on the UPI platform, operates as per the framework of the infrastructure. They are already aligned to whatever is required. Our customers are banks; every app and UPI works with the banks, and they follow the model. There are certain roles and responsibilities. From our point of view, we don’t see any disconnect there.

Kotak Mahindra Bank recently started fee-based UPI payments. Are other banks likely to follow suit?

Our focus is to get consumer behaviour moving digitally — whether it is Rupay or UPI. So, we don’t want cost to become a barrier to entry and access. This is still a very small baby. Most ecosystem players still want to keep it attractive... each party will decide for themselves.

What will be the focus areas for NPCI this year?

Our vision is to serve a billion people with one payment system or the other. In five years, we have grown from nothing to about 30 per cent of the market share, and we believe the new applications will take us to the next level. Our big focus will be NCMC, RuPay contactless, and the One Nation One Card programme. On UPI, we have UPI 2.0, and there are P2M merchant transactions. These will be our big focus.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW