New Delhi, May 9: President Pranab Mukherjee has dedicated ‘RuPay’ India’s own card payment network to the nation.
Unveiling the indigenous card at a function in
Rashtrapati Bhavan yesterday,
the President congratulated the Reserve Bank of India for having
envisioned the need for such an indigenously managed service in 2005 and
for entrusting this task to the National Payments Corporation soon
after
its operationalization in 2010.
He said that it usually takes five to seven years to build a fully
functional card payment network. He was happy to note that the NPCI
could make the RuPay service operational by April 2013.
The President said creativity lies in developing products meeting the
special needs of the customers by the issuing banks. For a large
country like India with a rapidly growing economy, the volume of payment
transactions, specially those settled through cards, will be
significant in the years ahead.
“Transactions which are mostly settled today either by way of cash or
cheque will progressively make way for card based payment transactions
as the economy matures and internet penetration increases. An indigenous
system like RuPay will not only reduce the dependence on cash and
cheque modes of settlement but will also make it easier to offer
products based on specific requirements of diverse user sets within the
country,” he added.
Mukherjee said that seven million cards issued so far is only a
fraction of the potential. Launch of milk procurement pre-paid card by
milk procurement agencies or grain procurement agencies in Punjab are
other such variants of the card payment mechanism which only a card
payment system developed within the country can appreciate and implement
faster. Dedication of RuPay to the nation is thus symbolic of the
maturity of the payment system development in India and contribution of
the National Payments Corporation of India to nation building.
He felicitated A. P. Hota, Managing Director and Chief Executive
Officer of NPCI. He also presented appreciation plaques to 17 banks for
their contribution in connection with RuPay card.