Chinese payments company China UnionPay to set up shop in India

MUMBAI: China UnionPay (CUP), the payments company which was created to rival Visa and MasterCard in the Middle Kingdom, is setting up shop in India. The Reserve Bank of India is also considering a bilateral arrangement whereby CUP cards are accepted in the country and India’s RuPay cards are accepted in China.

Bankers said that the fact that the company is seeking to fill positions in India could only mean that it has some inprinciple approval from the central bank.

CUP cards are accepted in over 140 countries across the world and the payments giant is keen on enabling acceptance in India. At present, both CUP and RuPay have an agreement with US card company Discover to use the latter's global network for facilitating international payments. Through the Discover network, RuPay cards can be used in China and CUP cards can be used in India. A direct agreement will enable both cardholders to make payments in each other’s country without going through an international network.

In its posting for a country manager in Mumbai, CUP has included in the job description: developing UnionPay business by cooperating with financial institutions on ATM and point-of-sales network and assisting partners in building a successful business model.

India's domestic card system RuPay , although just twoand-a-half years old, has made great progress on all fronts: it is accepted by most retailers and online establishments and across ATMs in the country .

The card base is also growing by leaps and bounds on the back of the PM's Jan Dhan Yojana, which is aimed at providing every household a bank account. Close to four crore cards were issued in recent months. The challenge for banks is to get account holders to use the cards for online and retail payments.