National payment gateway system 'RuPay'

India becomes the 7th country in the world to have its own payment gateway system named 'RuPay'. The card, equivalent of Visa and Mastercard, will not only reduce dependence on cash, but will offer users diverse set of payment option within the country. The talks are already on with Discover Financial Services in the US and JDC in Japan for a collaboration to make the card globally acceptable.

Key Points

·         The payment gateway is the handiwork of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

·         The card will be economical and affordable for Indian users unlike most of the international cards that burn a whole in our pocket.

·         Its even beneficial for banks as the platform cost them almost 40 per cent less than its global rivals for clearing and settlement of each transactions.

·         The system works on three channels ATMs, Point of Sales (POS) and online sales reducing often messy cash transactions.

·         It will be acceptable 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.

·         Its already being used by certain banks like ICICI, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, among others, for clearing and settlement.

·         The terminology 'RuPay' is the confluence of two terms Rupee and Payment.

Surplus Advantage

The card also offer a unique feature absent on its all other counterparts which is..

Personal accident insurance and permanent disability cover of Rs one lakh for the RuPay cardholder, provided that the card is in activated condition.

Variants

·         Two new variants of this payment system are also in the offing...

·         First one is a ‘Kisan Card’ for farmers while the second one is a pre-paid RuPay variant by and for IRCTC, for transaction related to Indian railway.

National Payments Corporation of India

·         Its an umbrella institution for all the Retail Payment Systems in the country.

·         Set up with the core objective to consolidate and integrate the multiple systems with varying service levels into nation-wide uniform and standard business process for all retail payment systems.

·         The other objective was to facilitate an affordable payment mechanism to benefit the common man across the country and help financial inclusion.

Special thnx to ELENA