Paytm Payments Bank To Now Issue Visa Physical Debit Cards; Target 1 Million New Cards In FY ‘22

India’s homegrown Paytm Payments Bank Ltd (PPBL) has announced that after witnessing the popularity of Visa virtual debit cards among its customers, it will also start issuing physical debit cards by Visa. The bank has already issued over 4.5 million virtual cards and is now targeting to issue over 1 million physical debit cards by end of FY ’21.  PPBL is already one of the largest issuer of RuPay Debit Cards and has a debit cardholder in every district of the country.

PPBL has enhanced the debit card experience with this offering by making the entire process digital. Through the Paytm Payments Bank section on the Paytm app, customers can not only apply for the physical card but can also set the pin of the card once they receive it. All possible card management controls are neatly built into the customers' journey. This card not only lets its customers enjoy an amazing bouquet of Visa offers, but also comes with features such as international payments and ‘tap-and-pay' transactions. Customers can therefore use this card across the globe. 

Satish Kumar Gupta, CEO & Managing Director, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd said, “We are proud to bring out an all-new physical card with our long-standing partner Visa. This is yet another step taken by us to democratize the digital financial ecosystem in the country. Physical cards will help more people have another payment method to rely on whenever they are out buying services or shopping. This partnership will allow millions of our customers to avail the benefits of Visa debit cards along with the power to make international transactions.”

Commenting on the launch, TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India & South Asia for Visa said, “Visa is delighted to extend our long-standing strategic partnership with Paytm to launch physical debit cards. Globally, Debit cards offer customers a simple, convenient, ubiquitous way to pay as we move towards a less-cash economy. These physical debit cards will allow customers to use over 5 million Visa acceptance points as also allow them to tap and pay for contactless transactions. We look forward to working closely with Paytm to accelerate the movement towards a less-cash digital economy.”

With this launch, PPBL continues to launch new features & services to enhance the banking experience of millions of its customers. Recently, PPBL had enabled banking services through Aadhar authentication by integrating the Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS). PPBL has also launched the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) facility where it enabled customers to receive the benefits of over 400 government subsidies directly into their PPBL Savings Account. These innovative & customer-centric services have made it the the top enabler of digital payments in the country as it registered over 975 million digital transactions in the month of March 2021. This achievement has been led by the growth in transactions on Paytm Wallet, Paytm FASTag, Paytm UPI, and internet banking over the last several quarters. It has also achieved an all-time high monthly target by opening over 1 million new savings & current accounts that have helped in propelling the total number of bank accounts to 64 million.