RuPay in UAE? New deal with India signed to develop domestic payment card scheme

It aims to facilitate growth of digital transactions, increase alternate payment options, reduce costs, etc.

Ashwani Kumar

Published: Thu 5 Oct 2023, 5:44 PM

Last updated: Fri 6 Oct 2023, 11:46 AM

A strategic partnership agreement has been inked to develop and launch the domestic card scheme of the UAE based on India’s RuPay card stack.

Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Piyush Goyal, India’s Commerce Minister, who is on an official visit to the UAE, witnessed the signing ceremony.

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NPCI International Payments Limited (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), inked an agreement with Al Etihad Payments (AEP) for the implementation of the domestic card scheme (DCS) in the UAE.

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RuPay card is an Indian indigenous equivalent of Mastercard or Visa. While RuPay is facilitated by the NPCI, an initiative of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Indian Banks’ Association, 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 operationalise the UAE’s national domestic card scheme.

“This will transform the UAE’s payment systems and mark a new era in India-UAE technology partnership,” the Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi tweeted.

Earlier in July, CBUAE and RBI inked two memoranda of understanding to strengthen use of national currencies for bilateral trade, link payment and financial messaging systems. Boosting bilateral trade, India has already started making crude oil payment to the UAE in Indian rupees.

Now, the latest scheme will aim to facilitate the growth of e-commerce and digital transactions in the UAE, bolster financial inclusion, support the UAE’s digitisation 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 cost-efficient, and secure payment systems.

The DCS solution is based on the principles of sovereignty, speed to market, innovation, digitisation, and strategic independence. The DCS solution provided by NIPL consists of a RuPay stack and value-added services like fraud monitoring services and analytics. NIPL will also assist AEP in formulating the operating 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. More than 750 million RuPay cards are in circulation. RuPay cards make up more than 60 per cent of total cards issued in India. These cards are issued through the entire banking spectrum, including public sector, private, and small banks.

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