Demand for Rupay credit cards rose by 37 per cent sequentially in Q2 FY24, higher than 23 per cent in the previous quarter, according to a consumer report by fintech platform ZET.
UPI’s integration has resulted in an uptick in demand for Rupay credit cards in India’s Tier-2, 3 and 4 towns and cities, it said.
The maximum demand was from cities such as Jaipur, Meerut, Surat, Nagpur, Ranchi, Raipur, Varanasi, Indore, Kanpur, and Jhansi, as per data from over 15 lakh financial agents across 706 small towns and cities.
“Ever since the integration with UPI, Rupay credit cards are witnessing a rise in demand for Rupay cards across India’s Tier-2, 3 and 4 towns and cities,” said Co-Founder and CEO Manish Shara, adding that it also reflects that the popularity of digital payments in the country has expanded to India’s hinterlands.
Axis Bank, HDFC and State Bank of India most preferred issuers for Rupay cards
Of the cards issued by the platform in the “hinterland”, almost 37 per cent were Rupay cards, followed by 32 per cent Mastercard and 31 per cent Visa cards. In the previous quarter before UPI integration, it had issued 29 per cent RuPay cards, 36 per cent Mastercard and 35 per cent Visa cards.
Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and State Bank of India were the most preferred issuers for Rupay cards. All three banks offer RuPay cards across income segments, including premium cards, and have multiple co-branded cards on the RuPay network such as Axis IOCL RuPay Credit Card, HDFC RuPay Shoppers Stop Credit Card, IndianOil HDFC Bank Credit Card and other tie-ups with Paytm, IRCTC and Tata Neu.
Financial distributor ZET, formerly OneCode, has over 55 partners such as SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank and is present in more than 15,000 pincodes of the country. The platform looks to reduce dependency on direct selling agents (DSAs), by customer profiling backed by in-house data and focussed targeting of users.