Serve India by using Rupay card, appeals PM Narendra Modi

Pushing for the use of government-backed Rupay card, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the citizens of the country to serve the nation by using Rupay debit/credit cards.

Everyone cannot go to the border for the security of the nation. We can serve the nation through RuPay card as well. If you develop a habit of using RuPay card. It will also become a medium to serve the nation, said Modi while adding other cards used by people take away money from the country.

The transaction fees earned through the homegrown card network will help in building roads, schools and hospitals for the poor, he added.

RuPay’s cost-effectiveness is considered to be a differentiator in comparison to other international card networks such as Visa, Master card and American Express.

Earlier this week, Visa cut the charge it levies on domestic debit card transactions. It will now charge the card issuing banks 15 paisa for transactions applicable under Rs 2,000 and Rs 1.5 for higher-value payments. The move is to encourage everyday digital payment usage across consumer and merchant categories. The revised rate will be effective from July. At present, it charges Rs 2.99 per transaction.

Visa and Mastercard reportedly lost market share to UPI transactions that reached almost half the value of debit and credit cards swiped at stores in Feb.

According to industry estimates, Visa has more than 40 per cent market share in India in terms of the number of card transactions on its network. Debit cards account for 96 per cent of the cards in use in India while credit cards account for 51 per cent.

Meanwhile, launched in 2012, Rupay gained prominence during the start of the prime minister's flagship account opening programme Jan-Dhan Yojna.

RuPay claims to cater to the customers of international banks, including private, cooperative and regional rural banks customers. This brings the total number of banks issuing RuPay cards to over 1000. Transaction through RuPay card increased to Rs 2,347 crore in May from Rs 1,929 crore at the end of March 2018.

At present, there are around 50 crore RuPay cards in the country. Recently, NPCI rolled out RuPay credit cards with over 12 banks.

Rupay is also making inroads outside India. It has partnered with international players like Discover, Japan Credit Bureau and China Union Pay to enhance its international acceptance. Till date, it claims to issued 25 million RuPay Discover global cards.

With WhatsApp UPI and UPI 2.0 yet to be rolled out for masses, Rupay is expected to grow exponentially in coming months.

Besides, Modi also asked people to install BHIM app to facilitate paying for goods and services digitally. Govt's digital payment application BHIM saw more than 91.5 crore transactions involving an amount of Rs 10,983 crore in 2017-18, from 1.78 crore transactions worth Rs 695 crore at the end of 2016-17.