NPCI Launches RuPay Credit Card For Small Businesses, Startups

After launching the UPI AutoPay feature for recurring payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), on Thursday (July 23), launched the RuPay business credit card, in collaboration with SBM Bank India and fintech startup EnKash, during the ongoing Global Fintech Fest 2020. The card is powered by application programming interface (API) platform YAP. The corporate credit card, which has been made available keeping in mind the needs of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and startups, would utilise the RuPay network and will be available upon immediate issuance through digital and paperless onboarding for SMEs, MSMEs and Start-ups at any SBM Bank touchpoint. 

The SBM EnKash RuPay Business Card is expected to streamline business operations with a 30-day credit period on business purchases, bill payments, travel expenses, automated GST, rental payments, payments to suppliers and online purchase of software, among others. 

Neeraj Sinha, head of retail and consumer banking, SBM Bank India, said, “While the small and medium businesses are the backbone of the Indian economy, liquidity and access to funds remain their biggest concerns. The SBM EnKash RuPay Business Card will not only offer a 30 day credit period on business expenses but more importantly empower the small businesses through transparency and technology, to become more efficient.” 

Startups will be able to manage all corporate payments through the RuPay business card. Further, the card offers variable billing cycles, instant bulk pay-outs, and automation of recurring payments such as rental payments. Customers can also make use of the card’s intuitive dashboard, where they can analyse their business spends to make better financial decisions. users can also get access to EnKash’s Whatsapp- based expense management service to manage and control all employee and business-related expenses on the go. This unique feature helps employees to upload receipts and get approvals instantly, leading to efficient business operations experience.

“This SBM EnKash RuPay Business card will assist small businesses to perform multiple business tasks with ease like paying GST, Travel expenses, Payments to suppliers and more. We believe this card will empower businesses to efficiently organise their business expenses and support working capital needs. We, at NPCI, are constantly working towards bringing in innovative business solutions for a diverse set of corporate customers to make them an integral part of our strong RuPay network,” said Praveena Rai, COO at NPCI. 

On July 22, NPCI launched UPI AutoPay, a feature which enables e-mandate for recurring payments on the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. Through the UPI AutoPay feature, customers can set an e-mandate on the UPI platform for recurring payments of up to INR 2,000. For recurring payments of an amount more than INR 2,000, the customer would have to insert their UPI Pin for each subsequent transaction. UPI users can create e-mandate through UPI ID, QR scan or Intent. The mandates can be set for one-time, daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, half-yearly and yearly.