Prepaid on upward trajectory in India

A report from New Delhi, India-based research firm RNCOS said the rise in the number of middle-class households in India, as well as a shift in consumer spending patterns, will continue to spur the rise of prepaid card usage in the South Asian country.

According to Indian Payment Card Market Forecast to 2012, the electronic payments marketplace in India has been growing rapidly, helped along by the regulatory actions of the Royal Bank of India. The number of debit cards issued by banks grew approximately 34 percent between 2008 and 2009, and was estimated to have reached 182 million cards in circulation by the end of 2010.

But out of India's 1.2 billion population, only 20 percent of adults possess payment cards, RNCOS said; therefore, the other 80 percent, many of them experiencing a rise in income, represent an attractive opportunity for prepaid card companies. In India, prepaid cards are mainly used by individuals as a management tool for travel abroad and to withdraw cash at international locations, according to RNCOS.

As of 2009, prepaid cards in India represented a market of over $4 billion, the research firm reported.

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