New Delhi: NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a subsidiary wholly owned by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), has forged a strategic alliance with Al Etihad Payments (AEP) to implement the Domestic Card Scheme (DCS) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
AEP is an indirect subsidiary of the Central Bank of UAE (CBUAE).
As per the agreement:
- NIPL and AEP will work together to build, implement, and operationalize UAE’s national domestic card scheme.
- The DCS will aim to facilitate the growth of e-commerce and digital transactions in the UAE.
- Additionally, the DCS bolster financial inclusion, support the UAE’s digitization agenda, increase alternate payment options, reduce the cost of payments, and enhance the UAE’s competitiveness and position as a global payments leader.
- The partnership aligns perfectly with NIPL’s mission to offer its knowledge and expertise to assist other countries in establishing their own cost-efficient and secure payment systems.
The NIPL DCS solution includes a stack of RuPay and additional services such as fraud monitoring and analytics. NIPL will also aid AEP in creating the operational regulations for their domestic card scheme.
RuPay is an indigenous, highly secure, and widely accepted card payment network in India. RuPay cards have debit, credit, and prepaid propositions and more than 750 Million cards are in circulation as of date.
India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is spearheading a significant revolution in the payment landscape. The DPI framework encompasses digital identity, digital payments, and digital data exchange layers, and the synergistic convergence of these elements is driving the remarkable fintech evolution in India.
With banking services accessible to nearly every adult, remote authentication through Aadhar, and efficient and affordable mobile connectivity providing internet access, India has established itself as the third largest fintech ecosystem worldwide. This flourishing ecosystem has witnessed the emergence of numerous unicorns. Over the past five years, there has been a remarkable 367% surge in digital transactions, with a customer base of more than 340 million actively participating in this transformative shift.
