Paytm Payments Bank to issue Visa debit cards

Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) on Wednesday said it will start issuing Visa debit cards to its customers, and aims at distributing 10 million new cards by the end of the next financial year. The bank already issues Rupay debit cards.

PPBL said it will issue Visa virtual debit cards to its customers, which will enable them to transact at all merchants accepting payments through cards. The Paytm-owned payments bank also said that its customers will be able to make international transactions using these cards, and will get an option to request for a physical card.

“This partnership will allow millions of our customers to avail the benefits of Visa debit cards along with the power to make international transactions,” said Satish Kumar Gupta, CEO and managing director, PPBL.

PPBL, which was issued a payments bank licence in 2015 alongside 11 others including Vodafone and Airtel by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), says it already has more than 57 million digital debit cards covering every district in the country. The RBI had issued several licences for payments banks with an objective to further financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments/remittance services to migrant labourers, low-income households, small businesses, and others in the unorganised sector.

“Debit cards, because of their ease to use and familiarity, continue to be the first choice of newly banked customers. They play a critical role to migrate these customers to the digital economy and help them make non-cash transactions,” T.R. Ramachandran, group country manager, India & South Asia, Visa, said.