CIOInsider India Magazine
NPCI Joins Hands with Fiserv to Launch RuPay API Platform
Word on the street is that, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with Fiserv, a Nasdaq-listed fintech firm, to launch an application programing interface (API) platform for startups and banks looking to build credit card-based products on top of the RuPay rails.
They claim that the agreement will help banks onboard customers and merchants more quickly and cost-effectively, as well as enable fintech firms to develop new kinds of digital interfaces for clients using RuPay credit card products.
The nFiNi platform, which will enable RuPay cards, will provide access to services through the NPCI network and Fiserv's microservices-based platform-as-a-service with a set of APIs. This stack will provide push alerts for in-app, mobile messaging app, and SMS notifications, as well as streamlined integration options and fast digital card provisioning, which will allow customers to transact instantly after being approved for a card.
The collaboration comes as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has blocked card networks Mastercard and American Express from issuing any new cards due to non-compliance with the data localization mandate, forcing a slew of card-providing banks to migrate their networks to Visa and NPCI's homegrown RuPay.
“What we need to figure out now is how to make credit more accessible for a wider range of customers, Bansal added. The platform will aid in the onboarding of fintech firms at a relatively low cost and in a timely manner. These don't have to be high-end, high-priced items. It might be a credit card with limited features and access to India's huge credit market.”
“We are aiming to develop the credit ecosystem in India, where there has been a lot of outstanding work on the debit side,” said Rishi Chhabra, Fiserv's head of India and Sri Lanka.
Seven of India's top ten credit card issuing banks collaborate with the Wisconsin-based company, which has been operating in India for over a decade.
“One of our shared ambitions while partnering with NPCI is to boost credit issuance in India,” Chhabra stated. “Both banks and fintechs will benefit from the scalability of our RuPay tech stack in terms of onboarding. We have hundreds of thousands of micro-APIs available for fintech companies to build, consume, onboard, and launch at scale”.
“What we've done on debit in India, we haven't been able to replicate on credit. What we need to figure out now is how to make credit more accessible for a wider range of customers, Bansal added. The platform will aid in the onboarding of fintech firms at a relatively low cost and in a timely manner. These don't have to be high-end, high-priced items. It might be a credit card with limited features and access to India's huge credit market.”
