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Middle East payments company Network International plans to push acceptance of India’s domestic payment scheme, RuPay, among UAE merchants.
The agreement will see Indian travellers pay via their RuPay card or contactless app at Network’s extensive merchant network across the seven emirates, the company said in a statement Tuesday.
RuPay is the home-grown card payment network from India, operated by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). In 2019, it reported 1 billion transactions through both online and offline payment modes.
Owing to its proximity, India is among the most important source markets for travel to the UAE, with nearly 2 million visitors recorded from the Indian sub-continent in 2019. Indian travellers spent nearly $94 billion on transportation, lodging and consumption on about 2 billion domestic and international trips in 2018, according to GlobalData.
In 2016, India saw the increased use of digital payments after the Modi government withdrew high-value currency notes in a bid to crack down on black money in the economy.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
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