In an effort to strengthen the regional payments infrastructure, the UAE and Indian have reached an agreement on strategy to introduce a domestic card program in the Emirates.
It would be modeled on India’s RuPay cards, which are issued by public, private, and small lenders across the banking spectrum and include prepaid, debit, and credit alternatives.
The United Arab Emirates Central Bank’s Al Etihad Payment firm has teamed up with NPCI International Payments Ltd (NIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary to the National Payments Corporation of India.The businesses will collaborate to create the national domestic card scheme for the UAE.
The program intends to promote financial inclusion, support the nation’s ambitions for digitalisation, and enable the development of online shopping and electronic transactions in the Emirates.
Additionally, it aims to expand different payment methods, lower payment costs, and improve the UAE’s economy and status as a pioneer in the world of payments.
According to Piyush Goyal, the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industries, “the partnership arrangement between NPCI and CBUAE for the establishment of a national card system for the UAE modeled on India’s RuPay card is an additional turning point in our economic engagement.”
The collaboration between India and the UAE will go far and set an example for the rest of the world.
According to India’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the agreement “perfectly aligns with NIPL’s objective to offer its expertise and knowledge in order to assist nations around the globe establish their own cost-effective, and secure payment systems.”
RuPay is a widely used global debit and credit card network that can be used to make purchases in stores, at ATMs, and online.
RuPay cards currently account for in excess of 750 million cards in use worldwide, or more than 60% of all cards authorized in India.
According to the ministry, the domestic card option is built on the concepts of innovation, digitalisation, speed to market, and strategic independence.
The RuPay stack and additional services like fraud detection and analytics are part of the solution offered by NIPL.
Al Etihad Payments will receive assistance from NIPL with regard to the rules of operation for the local card project.
The latest agreement follows agreements made by the UAE and India in July to enable the interconnection of their payments and messaging systems and to encourage the use of local currency for cross-border transactions.
The nations declared at the time that they would look into connecting their respective card switches, RuPay switch and UAESwitch, for the purpose of processing card transactions and facilitating the use of domestic cards.
In order to connect the automated teller machine network of all lenders in the Emirates, the UAE Central Bank launched UAESwitch in 1996.