Today, i.e March 07,
2012 a new chapter in the Indian Payments has begun.
A strategic alliance
between Discover Financial Services (DFS) and National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI), has been announced.
The top 11
points about this strategic alliance.
- At present Diners Club International (DCI) cards are accepted at CitiBank ATM's.
- Discover cards and Diners Club International (DCI) cards will be accepted at NPCI ATMs and point-of-sale terminals for purchases in India.
- RuPay (the national card payment network in India) cardholders will be able to utilize the Discover, Diners Club International and PULSE networks for international purchases and cash access outside of India.
- The companies are also working to implement D-PAS, Discover’s EMV technology, to offer chip-based cards to RuPay cardmembers.
- The arrangement will be implemented in 3 phases. Phase 1) DFS and DCI cards will be accepted at RuPay ATMs in India. Phase 02 ) DFS and DCI cards will be accepted at RuPay POS locations. Phase 03) Acceptance of RuPay Global Cards on Discover’s global payment network outside of India.
- The final aim of the network-to-network alliance between DFS and NPCI is the issuance of RuPay Global cards, once the domestic RuPay cards being launched later this month stabilize.
- Discover, like American Express Co. (AXP), typically issues its own credit cards and operates a payments network that processes transactions.
- Visa and MasterCard, only process transactions. The higher transaction volume helps boost their revenue.
- Discover has a smaller acceptance footprint internationally than does American Express, Visa and MasterCard, though it has been working to change that.
- At present there are 120 million+ DFS and Diners Club cards worldwide and these card holders can enjoy the wide reach of RuPay network in India, of over 90,000 ATM's.
- In the near future, DFS and DCI cards would also be accepted at over six lakh POS terminals that are linked to the NFS.
