RUPAY GO GLOBAL

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) today said its RuPay debit card will go international by July and announced a tie-up with an American card issuer. Announcing the tie-up with Discover here, NPCI Chief Executive A P Hota said both RuPay and the American firm stand to gain from this partnership due to extended distribution network of their respective cardholders. "The RuPay Card is also leveraging upon EMV technology of Discover to issue global cards. Cards, terminal and host specifications for the RuPay global cards have since been released to the pilot-member banks. Issuance of RuPay global cards will commence in July with two banks," Hota said. NPCI and Discover Financial Services also announced operationalisation of acceptance of Discover and Diners' Club cards in India on NPCI's NFS (National Financial Switch) network. As part of a strategic alliance, announced last year, Discover and Diners Club cards now are accepted at over 85,000 NFS ATMs across the country, Hota said. In the coming months, RuPay global cards will be issued and accepted on the Discover, Diners Club International and PULSE networks for international purchases and cash access outside India. This will be followed by the acceptance of Discover and Diners Club cards access at point-of-sale terminals for purchases in the country.