Visa Announces Switching Fee Rebate for Debit Card Transactions

11/23/2016

mVisa Quick Response (QR) code technology to rapidly scale up the acceptance of electronic payments in India

 

Visa, the leading global payments technology company, has announced that it will rebate switching fees for all domestic Visa Debit card point-of-sale (POS) and eCommerce transactions from today until 31 December 2016.  Visa is confident that this measure will provide banks with additional financial resources to increase awareness and adoption of digital payments for both consumers and merchants.

TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India & South Asia, Visa said: “Today we have announced the rebate of switching fees through December 31, 2016 for domestic Visa Debit card transactions to help India achieve its demonetisation objectives. The standard fee will be rebated to both issuers and acquirers to encourage reinvestment in consumer and merchant awareness and adoption campaigns, and to grow digital payments acceptance infrastructure. We are committed to investing in India and working with the government, our clients and merchants to continue to expand access to electronic payments across the country.”

He reiterated the need for banks to rapidly scale deployment of Visa’s digital payment solution mVisa to allow consumers and merchants to quickly shift from cash to electronic payments for their daily needs.

Based on QR code technology, mVisa is an extremely cost-effective solution, especially for small merchants, as it eliminates the need for traditional POS hardware. Today, consumers and merchants can access mVisa through SBI, HDFC, ICICI, Axis and Bank of Baroda mobile apps with more banks expected to go live in the near future.

“As the demand from merchants for cost effective electronic acceptance solutions grows, we see a tremendous need for a solution like mVisa to leapfrog the traditional acceptance methods with a mobile based QR code solution,” added TR Ramachandran.

mVisa allows consumers to use their mobile phones to make cashless purchases, pay bills and send money to friends and family members. Users securely link their Visa Debit, Credit or Prepaid account to the mVisa application and make purchases by scanning an mVisa QR code at a retailer and initiating a transfer of funds from their account to the retailer’s account. mVisa also eliminates the requirement to load funds to a digital wallet and associated spending cap limits.

 

About Visa
Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions, and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable electronic payments. We operate one of the world's most advanced processing networks — VisaNet — that is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second, with fraud protection for consumers and assured payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: pay now with debit, pay ahead with prepaid or pay later with credit products. For more information, visit http://www.visa.co.in/

To view Visa’s report on accelerating digital payments in India, visit http://www.visa.co.in/aboutvisa/research/cashreport.shtml