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Sat, Nov 16, 2024 | Jumada al-Awwal 14, 1446 | DXB
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UAE payment card to debut in mid-2024, says top Indian official
A strategic partnership agreement has been inked to develop and launch the domestic card scheme, based on India’s RuPay card stack
File photo
A payment card scheme introduced in the UAE this week is set to be operational by the middle of the next year, transforming the country’s payment systems and marking a new era in India-UAE technology partnership.
That’s according to Piyush Goyal, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry, who said: “We have made an offering which we are providing to other parts of the world. We are offering it to other countries like the UAE, Singapore… some of the countries have been first off the block (embrace it) and will obviously benefit from it.”
Photo by Neeraj Murali/KT
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.
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.
He stressed that this digital infrastructure framework enables governments, businesses, and individuals to perform electronic transactions seamlessly.
“The Indian payment system, the India stack is truly unique in its security systems, in its low cost and its speed of transactions. There were times when remittances from the UAE to India would take weeks and would cost huge amount of money.
“The exchange risk was added to the common man and the low middle class, hard-working individual, who saved some money for his family back home, remits it back…for him that 3, 4,5 per cent cost, that delay was quite a hurtful cost. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) through India stack, provides seamless transactions, real time transfer of money,” he added.
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.
Integrating economies
“With the Central Bank of UAE and the Reserve Bank of India having now entered into arrangements by which trading, payments and remittances can all be done directly between the Dirham and the Indian Rupee, with a periodic settlement, it will actually bring down the costs of transaction even further,” the minister added.
“Exchange risks will get reduced. Transactions will be direct in local currencies. We have also come through with the latest agreement between NPCI and the UAE card issuers by which UAE cards can be used in India, and Rupay cards issued in India can be used in the UAE. This will really integrate our economies and encourage travel between the two countries and help people truly enjoy the fruits of this beautiful partnership.”
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Nandini Sircar
Nandini Sircar has a penchant for education, space, and women's narratives. She views the world through a prism of learning: whether it's the earthly pursuit of wisdom or the unearthly mysteries of space. In her written universe, women and children take centre stage.
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