Zee Media Bureau
New Delhi: RuPay, the foster child of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMDJY), is the new payment getaway card in India breaking the long grip of Visa and Master in the card market. And it only looks to increase over the years.
It is interesting to note that, of the 580 million debit cards used in India, 190 million are said to be RuPay card, a huge achievement for a year old card.
The Jan Dhan Yojana, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2014, has over 175 million accounts (17.5 crore) as of August 2015.
While 154 million RuPay cards have been issued to the account holders under the PMJDY, banks are also said to have issued 40 million RuPay debit cards to 'non-jan-dhan' accounts.
Having grown so mcuh within a year, the RuPay card is said to have broken the grip of the Visa-Master grip of the card market.
“Untill one year ago MasterCard and Visa Card were predominant in the market while now RuPay has made a mark and we are hoping to increase its presence further”, AP Hota, MD and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which runs RuPay to Hindustan Times.
The NPCI is likely to launch RuPay credit cards by March next year, as per report in HT.
Moreover, NPCI is also said to have tied up with Discover Financial Services and Japanese card network JCB for international acceptance of the RuPay cards.
With the increasing credibility and importance of the card, the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRTCT) has also launched a RuPay pre-paid card which allows passengers to book tickets, pay service bills or shop.
