RuPay Card, a product of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), is an Indian version of credit and debit cards and has been designed to address the needs of Indian consumers, merchants and banks. As per NPCI, the benefits of RuPay card are the flexibility of the product platform, high levels of acceptance and the strength of the RuPay brand. Here we take a look at some of them:
1. Lower cost and affordability:
Since the transaction processing happens domestically, it leads to lower cost of clearing and settlement for each transaction. This makes the transaction cost affordable.
2. Customized product offering:
RuPay, being a domestic scheme, is committed towards development of customized product and service offerings for consumers.
3. Protection of information related to consumers:
Information related to consumers remains protected as transaction and customer data related to RuPay cards reside in India.
4. Electronic product options to untapped/unexplored consumer segment:
There are under-penetrated/untapped consumer segments in rural areas that do not have access to banking and financial services. Right pricing of RuPay products makes the RuPay cards more economically feasible for banks to offer to their customers. In addition, relevant product variants ensure that banks can target the hitherto untapped consumer segments.
5. Inter-operability between payment channels and products:
RuPay card assures complete inter-operability between various payments channels and products. NPCI currently offers varied solutions across platforms including ATMs, mobile technology, cheques etc and is extremely well placed in nurturing RuPay cards across these platforms.
6. Issuing Banks
At present RuPay has collaborated with almost 600 international, regional and local banks across the country. Its 10 core promoter banks are State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Citibank N. A. and HSBC. It expanded its shareholding in 2016 to 56 banks to bring more banks across sectors under its umbrella.
7. Accidental Insurance for RuPay ATM cardholders
All RuPay ATM-cum-debit cardholders are presently eligible for accidental death and permanent disability insurance cover. RuPay Classic cardholders are eligible for cover of Rs 1 lakh, whereas RuPay Premium cardholders are eligible for cover of Rs 2 lakh. Insurance premium is paid by the National Payments Corporation of India. 872 cardholders received insurance claims during the financial year 2016-17.
