RuPay cards to be acceptable at all PoS terminals by January: NPCI

MUMBAI: RuPay, the domestic debit card payment platform, launched by the National Payment Corporation of India, is likely to be acceptable at all PoS ( point of sales) terminals in the country from January, a top NPCI official said here today.

"The RuPay will be acceptable in all PoS terminals from January, which is at present accepted in 48,000 merchant terminals," NPCI managing director and chief executive A P Hota told reporters here on the sidelines of a banking summit organised by FICCI and IBA.

According to the RBI data, there are around 91,000 ATMs and 6.5 lakh PoS terminals in the country now. While the RuPay card, launched in April last year, is acceptable at all ATMs, most of PoS terminals are yet to accept it.

At present, around 22 banks use the RuPay card-based payment system in the country. While commercial banks like Union Bank of India, Bank of India, State Bank of India and Axis Bank have joined the RuPay network, the rest 18 banks comprise of regional rural banks ( RRBs) and co-operative banks.

"We hope that many more banks will join the new payment system in the near future," Hota said, adding it will come up with an international debit card next June.

Hota also said that given the cost advantage, which is around 40 per cent lower than the international payment systems like Visa or MasterCard, banks would adopt RuPay to save cost.

Talking about the launch of credit cards, he said they are concentrating on debit card segment for three years, after which, they would look into credit card space.