Mastercard, RBL Bank Partner to Expand Digital Payments Acceptance Network in India

RBL Bank announced that through strategic support from Mastercard, the bank has added over 500,000 merchant acceptance or Point-of-Sale (PoS) locations since demonetization in November 2016, fastest by any bank during this timeframe. This partnership between Mastercard and RBL Bank is an endeavour to take digital payments to the untapped geographies and industry segments. Mastercard has been working towards creation of a robust digital payments ecosystem which brings together banks, merchants, fintech companies, payments facilitators including the regulators.

To grow its digital payment acceptance footprint, RBL Bank signed partnerships with several Payment Facilitators. These partnerships allowed the bank to expand its payments acceptance network in tier 2 and 3 cities. This also helped RBL to facilitate greater acceptance for digital payments in traditionally cash driven industry segments such as education and healthcare.

Commenting on this achievement, Rajeev Ahuja, ED and Head of Strategy, RBL Bank said, “Mastercard has played a pivotal role in facilitating the smooth onboarding of the fintech companies and Payment Facilitators. We are confident that this collaboration will go a long way in further strengthening our footprint in the acceptance network.”

Rajeev Kumar, senior vice president, Market Development, South Asia, Mastercard added “Mastercard has been working towards accelerating awareness and acceptance for digital payments in India, especially in tier 2 and 3 markets. A robust digital payment ecosystem is key to achieve this. Mastercard’s partnership with RBL Bank is an important step in this journey, as it unleashes several avenues for growth of digital payments across India. With partnerships like these, Mastercard is certain that India will be the largest digital payments acceptance market by 2020.”

As a part of the effort to create a digital payments ecosystem in India, Mastercard has initiated a series of steps. Earlier this year, Mastercard organized Acceptance Forums in Bangalore and Mumbai, with more than 250 participants from Banks and Payment Facilitators. Following this, Mastercard also introduced Payment Facilitator Accelerator Consulting programme in association with a leading external consultant. The program provides the participants the necessary guidance for growth via partnerships and manage their risk effectively.