New Delhi, 8 May, 2014

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee today dedicated ‘RuPay’ India’s own card payment network to the nation tomorrow (May 8, 2014) at function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

RuPay, a new card payment scheme, is the coinage of two terms Rupee and Payment.

The RuPay card is accepted at all the ATMs (1,60,000+), 95% of PoS terminals (9,45,000+) and most of the eCom merchants (10,000+) in the country.

A variant of the card called ‘Kisan Card’ is now being issued by all the Public Sector banks in addition to the mainstream debit card which has been issued by 43 banks.

A variant of Pre-paid RuPay card would shortly be launched by IRCTC.

RuPay works on three channels – ATMs, Point of Sales (POS) and online sales. Speaking on the occasion, Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu said RuPay would be available at a cost which is much less than the cost of international cards.

The public sector banks have already installed 25,331 RuPay cards enabled ATMS and 9,000 more ATMs would be installed in the current fiscal, Sandhu said. The RuPay card is accepted at all ATMs (1.6 lakh plus), 95 per cent of PoS terminals (9.45 lakh plus) and most of the eCom merchants (about 10,000) in the country.

Since the transaction processing will happen domestically, it is expected to lead to lower cost of clearing and settlement. Banks Will pay fees in Indian rupees instead of foreign currency.

More than 150 Cooperative banks and the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in the country have also issued RuPay ATM card.

The total number of cards issued as on date is 17 Million and is growing at a rate of about 3 Million per month.

This card symbolizes the capabilities of banking industry in India to build a card payment network so that dependency on international card scheme is minimized.

‘RuPay’ is developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) – a ‘not-for-profit’ Company envisioned by Reserve Bank of India and created by the banking industry.

Dedicating ‘RuPay’ card to the nation, Mukherjee said for a large country like India volume of card transactions will be significant in the years ahead.

RuPay will not only reduce dependence on cash, but will offer users diverse set of payment option within the country, he said, adding India is one of the few countries in the world to meet the card payment system needs domestically.

NPCI Chairman Balachandran M said the NPCI board plans to take RuPay card overseas and is already in talks with Discover Financial Services in the US and JDC in Japan for a collaboration.

RuPay card offers personal accident insurance and permanent disability cover of Rs one lakh to the cardholder, subject to the card being kept in activated condition.