India's RuPay Reaches Bahrain, To Be Accepted At 515 ATMs and 40,000 PoS Terminals

NPCL, which operates India's global card payment network RuPay, has tied up with Bahrain’s Fintech firm BENEFIT to enable acceptance of RuPay at ATMs and Point of Sale terminals across that country.

RuPay Logo | File Image

Mumbai: NPCI International Payments Ltd, the international arm of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), has collaborated with Bahrain’s BENEFIT, a leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, to enable acceptance of RuPay at ATMs and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals across that country, the corporation said in a statement.

 

Conceived and operated by the NPCI, RuPay is a global card payment network from India. The corporation claims to have issued over 635 million RuPay cards since its launch in 2012.

 

While NPCI is an umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India, BENEFIT is a key conduit for all electronic financial transactions throughout Bahrain. The collaboration between the two will see Indian travellers transact via their RuPay cards across 515 ATMs and 40,000 PoS terminals in Bahrain, the NPCI said.

 

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Ritesh Shukla, the CEO of NIPL, said: “At NIPL, we are dedicated to strengthening foothold of our card scheme — RuPay — in international markets. We constantly strive to offer an evolved and personalised shopping experience to the customers and drive digital payments acceptance across the globe with our cutting-edge technology."

 

Stating that the collaboration with BENEFIT will empower Indian travellers and the large Indian community in Bahrain, Shukla added: "We aim to create an end-to-end value proposition for RuPay Cardholders to make their Bahrain travel experience seamless and memorable.”

 

In August 2019, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bahrain, NPCL and BENEFIT had signed an MoU for the launch of RuPay Card in Bahrain, aiming to allow the Indian expatriates hassle-free transfer of money at cheaper costs. 

About BENEFIT

Established in 1997 and licensed by the Central Bank of Bahrain, BENEFIT is an ancillary service provider to Bahrain's financial services industry.

 

"It is with great pride that we announce our collaboration with NPCI for RuPay, we believe that this tie-up with BENEFIT will bring significant advantage to their customers as it will enable users to get the most of our outstanding electronic payment solutions across the Kingdom," the NPCI statement quoted Abdulwahed AlJanahi, CE-BENEFIT, as saying.

"This cooperation with other prime markets for FinTech, like India, will allow us to serve a wider range of customers and create a more cashless society since we play an important role in innovating financial transactions in Bahrain. And we would like to thank the Central Bank of Bahrain for their support to achieve this milestone,” he added.

 

Speaking at a gathering in Bahrain in August 2019, PM Modi had said: "Our intention is to provide you the facility to send money to your home in India through RuPay Card. Now you will be able to say that "Bahrain - Pay with RuPay."