RuPay to go global very soon: NPCI

Sees 200 banks with international cards

In a bid to provide an alternative service to Visa and MasterCard to customers in India, National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), which runs the RuPay payment card network, plans to launch international cards very soon, a top executive said on Wednesday.

Talking to Deccan Herald, National Payments Corporation of India Managing Director and CEO A P Hota said, “RuPay card conceptualised by NPCI will go international shortly. So far, the card was domestic only. With this, member banks of NPCI will be able to issue RuPay cards which will be accepted on ATMs (automated teller machines) and PoS (point of sales) abroad.”

NPCI has already done the pilot study with Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, and Saraswat Co-operative Bank. Now a good number of banks would be able to issue RuPay international cards.

Currently, the entire lot of 165 million RuPay cards are domestic only. Our target is to enable 200 banks within a period of two years to get international cards, he said.

Hota was in the city to launch Canara Bank sponsored RRBs like Pragathi Krishna Gramin Bank and Kerala Gramin Bank Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) — an interbank remittance processing service offered by NPCI.

“Immediate payment service means instant payment, which is unique in the world. Currently, only three countries like UK, Singapore, and Australia provide such service...but we have taken the lead.”

The banks have gone live on the IMPS P2A (P2A or person to account number) platform using account number and IFSC (Indian Financial System Code). With this, bank account holders of any IMPS P2A enabled bank can send and receive money 24x7 via IMPS to/from these two Gramin Banks using account number and IFSC. IMPS or Immediate Payment Service is a unique interbank remittance processing service offered by NPCI.

This service offers instant, 24X7, interbank electronic fund transfer through mobile, internet, and ATM.

Pragathi Krishna Gramin Bank (PKGB), with jurisdiction over 11 districts of Karnataka, and Kerala Gramin Bank (KGB), the only RRB in Kerala state having presence in all the 14 districts, will be among the first two Regional Rural Banks in the country to offer the IMPS P2A service.

Unlike NEFT, which is available only during banking hours on working days, IMPS is available anytime 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the year, irrespective of public holidays.