RuPay opens payments channel to Amazon, Jet Airways

RuPay, the home-grown payments gateway, which has roped in country's largest online merchants, including IRCTC, Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), Flipkart, Snapdeal, bookmyshow and Homeshop18, a fortnight ago, has now tied up with Amazon and major carrier Jet Airways.

The RuPay debit cards that are acceptable at all ATMs and 9.8 lakh point of sales (PoS) terminal in the country can now be used to shop best deals on Amazon and book air tickets on Jet Airways, the National Payment Corporation, which issues the RuPay cards said in a statement on Thursday.

"Acceptance on Amazon is a breakthrough for us. We are glad to offer a wider horizon to our cardholders to transact online. Also, our integration with Jet Airways will definitely benefit our cardholders," NPCI managing director AP Hota said.

The arrangement is in line with its strategy of offering the widest set of customers a variety of payment options that will enhance their shopping experience, Amazon India general manager for payments Srinivas Rao said.

Jet Airways has already begun accepting RuPay cards on their site for air-ticketing, its senior vice-president Gaurang Shetty said.

The NPCI had last week announced a tie-up with Flipkart, Snapdeal and LIC for the home-grown payments gateway, which could be an Indian answer to Visa and MasterCard (See: RuPay extends reach to IRCTC, LIC and online retailers).

NPCI has already issued more than 30 million RuPay cards, which are accepted at all ATMs, and by 9.8 lakh PoS terminals and over 15,000 online merchants.

The domestic online retail industry, as per a Crisil report, is expected to touch Rs50,400 crore by FY'16 from Rs1,500 crore in FY'08.

According to online industry body IAMAI, travel has emerged as the most transacted segment in the online space accounting for 60 per cent of online payments.

The value of online payments for travel industry stood at Rs50,000 crore in FY'13.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is the umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India, set up with the support and guidance from the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks' Association.

RuPay, an indigenous card scheme of NPCI, is playing a vital role in the 'PM Jan Dhan Yojana' by providing debit card to every account holder. The government aims to open 75 million accounts by 26 January 2015, which clearly means the card base of RuPay will touch close to 50 million.