RuPay cards, launched in 2012 by NPCI, has significantly increased its market share to 38 per cent of the total 645 million debit cards in the country, helped by government's financial inclusion scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, says a study.
As per the study conducted by JM Financial, RuPay-enabled debit cards stood at 247 million, representing 38 per cent of total cards issued in India, as on January 2016. RuPay's market share stood at 17 million in 2013-14.
The study, however, found that in terms of number of transactions, RuPay cards' market share was only 20.4 per cent on ATM transactions and 4.1 per cent on point of sales transactions.
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Going ahead, RuPay plans to launch a promotion campaign to create a strong brand among the high spending urban consumers and would also roll-out a RuPay credit card by September this year.
It would also partner with the incoming 11 payments and in a bid to gain market share in cards business.
"RuPay cards have grown exponentially led by the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, and now make up over 38 per cent of the total issued 645 million debit cards in India," the report said.
The study has been conducted in association with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
As per the report, while RuPay's market share has been rising continuously, it faces a challenge as Jan Dhan Bank accounts, which make up 172 million of the total cards issued, have shown very less transactions, as most of the people who have opened accounts belong to rural and lower income groups.
"However, the situation is gradually improving as share
of zero balance accounts has slid to 29 per cent in February 2016 from 77 per cent in 1HFY15 and cumulative balance in these accounts have crossed Rs 335 billion," it said, adding that with Direct Benefit Scheme being extended to various schemes, this balance could substantially rise in coming years and will gradually translate to card based spending.
"Till then, credit card issuance and product branding to attract high spending urban consumers will help RuPay gain market share in value terms," it noted.
Further, RuPay's share in online transactions is still low (1.6 per cent) owing to user profile but is growing as tier 2 and tier 3 towns due to Internet penetration.
NPCI was set up in 2009 as the central infrastructure for various retail payment systems in India and was envisaged by the RBI as the payment utility for all banks in the country.
