Visa To RuPay: According to the RBI circular RBI empowers users of debit, credit and prepaid cards to choose their preferred card network, similar to mobile network portability
The way you can port your mobile network between Vi, Jio and Airtel, now credit card, debit card and prepaid card customers will be able to port their network. That means you can port from Visa to Mastercard or Rupay or any other network or network of your choice. Portability of debit cards, credit cards will start from October 1.
According to the circular of the Reserve Bank of India, RBI gives the user the right to choose his preferred card network for debit, credit and prepaid cards. This challenges the current practice, where card network choices are predetermined by agreements between issuers and networks.
What is card network portability?
Card network portability enables consumers to transfer their card accounts from one network to another. Just like we can switch mobile service providers while maintaining the same phone number. With card network portability, cardholders have the flexibility to transfer to a different payment network while retaining their existing card account, balance and credit history. Right now when you apply for a debit or credit card, you usually don’t get a chance to choose a network provider, as this is decided by the card issuing bank or institution.
Authorized Card Networks in India: American Express Banking Corp., Diners Club International Ltd., MasterCard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd., National Payments Corporation of India – RuPay and Visa Worldwide Pte. Ltd.
Now you understand like this. Whenever you apply for a debit or credit card, it always says Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club or Rupay, but you can’t decide which one to choose. This is because your bank has long been choosing your card network provider for you, but this is about to change soon. RBI said that the existing arrangement between card networks and card issuers (banks and non-banks) is not conducive to the availability of choice to customers.
