12 Major Companies to Accept India's RuPay Card in UAE

Twelve major businesses outlets in the UAE will start accepting the RuPay card in the UAE starting next week, Indian ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Sing Suri announced on Saturday during the official launch in Abu Dhabi on Saturday morning.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the first purchase by swiping the RuPay card at a mock Chhappan Bhog Abu Dhabi outlet set up during the launch at the Emirates Palace.

“He bought one kilo of Muthichoor Laddu by using the card,” Vinay Verma, Owner and Managing Director of Chhappan Bhog told Khaleej Times.

“It is great pleasure and owner for us to be part of this ambitious launch.

He is going to take it (the laddu) to Bahrain as a Prasad for the temple.  He said he is very keen that we use the Ru Pay card,” said Verma.

RuPAy card is the Indian equivalent of the Master Card and Visa Card that will can be used at point-of-sale terminals across the UAE.

Suri said three banks in the UAE - Emirates NBD, Bank of Baroda and FAB - will start issuing the card by next week.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a technology interface between the payment platforms in India and UAE was exchanged between the National Payments Corporation of India and UAE's Mercury Payments Services. 

The UAE  the first country in the Middle East to witness the launch of the RuPay card, "an Indian indigenous equivalent of Master Card or Visa Card.”

Adeeb Ahamed, MD, LuLu Financial Group said Low transaction processing fee makes RuPay more economically feasible for banks, merchants as well as consumers, and can be easily leveraged by business to reach out to a larger segment of the society.

“RuPay has been gaining traction since it was first introduced in India in 2012, giving competition to other card networks internationally. The card is widely accepted at all major banks, their ATM networks as well as a large number of stores as well.”

“Indian tourists, who are one of the largest numbers to come to UAE will be able to utilise the RuPay cards here as well, as more strategic partnerships will make it more viable. We believe that through the building of a larger ecosystem, RuPay can position itself as a reliable, premium brand in the payment cards space.”

By Anjana Sankar