Business leaders have recently said that the introduction to the UAE of an extensively used Indian payment card will provide the retailers with a major boost and enhance tourism.
They consider that RuPay – an Indian version of Mastercard or Visa – will take away the urgency for tourists to carry hard currency, make shopping easy here and streamline the experience of travelling between both countries.
Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, on Saturday, introduced the enormously popular Indian card during his visit to the UAE. About 100,000 points of sale terminals and 5,000 ATMs all over the country by now accept the card. More will follow. At present, almost three million Indian tourists who come to the UAE every year will be able to use their cards freely in the UAE removing the need to take excess cards or large amounts of notes.
“People from India currently have to bring cash or a traveller’s cheque and it is cumbersome,” said Surender Kandhari, chairman of the Al Dobowi Group, on Sunday.
“This will make it much smoother. It is about the ease of doing business, the ease of shopping and the ease of making payments.”
In 2012, RuPay was introduced in India as a homegrown response to international cards. The name comes from a mix together of “rupee” and “payment”. However, as distinct to its global peers, it provides much lower transaction fees – up to tenth of the cost of international competitors. More than 500 million cards are in circulation in India.
Firoz Merchant, the founder of jewellery business Pure Gold, said the introduction of the card could even increase the numbers of people visiting from India. “Retailers in the UAE will be impacted positively by this move,” said Mr Merchant. “With one of the highest numbers of tourists in the UAE, it can potentially increase tourism from India even more. It eliminates the hassle of carrying physical currency and allows stress-free shopping. It is a great move for retailers.”
“Our IT and finance teams have been working overtime to [be ready] in time for the launch,” said chairman of Lulu, Yusuff Ali.
“It is going to be a great initiative for the millions of travellers and tourists and non resident Indians [because of] the convenience and ease of usage that RuPay will bring.”
Tags: RuPay cards, UAE
