India’s Paytm Payments Bank partners with Mastercard

Virtual cards will initially be rolled out to beta customers. Paytm Payments Bank intends to open them up to its entire customer base soon

India’s Paytm Payments Bank has partnered with Mastercard for virtual and physical debit cards.

Virtual cards will initially be rolled out to beta customers. Paytm Payments Bank intends to open them up to its entire customer base soon. Mastercard’s mobile and artificial intelligence tools will strengthen digital transaction security.

Customers will also soon get the option to request a physical card, meaning they will be able to conduct contactless in-store transactions, supported by Mastercard’s chip-based technology, and withdraw cash.

Paytm Payments Bank was launched by ecommerce company Paytm in 2017 to take advantage of India’s payments bank model, through which new institutions can offer current and savings accounts, payments and debit cards, but no lending or credit services.

The payments bank aims to bring more than 500 million Indians into the mainstream economy and issue more than 10 million digital debit cards over the course of 2020 and 2021.

Satish Kumar Gupta, chief executive officer and managing director of Paytm Payments Bank, said: “We continue to play a leading role in spreading the digital payments network in the country. We aim to provide maximum flexibility to our customers to choose their preferred mode of digital payments, and our partnership with Mastercard is in the same direction.”

Porush Singh, division president for South Asia at Mastercard, added: “While digital payments are taking off in India, growing faster than many other countries around the world, 90% of all retail transactions are still in cash. Mastercard is committed to the government of India’s vision to fuel the growth of digital payments.”

“Towards this goal, Mastercard is pleased to offer its fully-integrated global payment platform to Paytm Payments Bank to enable cardholders to have access to the safest way of making electronic payments.”

Image: Shutterstock

Mark Dugdale