Card networks have reportedly briefed mobile wallet companies in India on the integration process for interoperability, which will enable card payments through mobile wallets.

Last month, Mastercard, Visa and RuPay held discussions with the prepaid payment instruments (PPI) licence holders, The Economic Times has reported.

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The meetings are said to be about the integration as well as technological and additional requirements for the issue of interoperable payment instruments.

The enabling of interoperability will allow mobile wallet companies to issue their own branded prepaid cards. Currently, the companies can provide prepaid cards only in collaboration with banks.

These cards will be available for domestic in-store and online purchases, the report added.

The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), published guidelines on interoperability between various PPIs in October last year.

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RBI noted that the interoperability will be enabled in three phases.

In the first phase, PPIs issued as wallets via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) would be made interoperable with other wallets. This will facilitate money transfer between mobile wallets.

The second phase would involve interoperability between wallets and bank accounts, while the final stage is wallets issuing cards in alliance with card networks such as Visa and Mastercard.

PPIs issued in the form of cards will be affiliated to the authorised card networks. The RBI said that the issued cards will be EMV Chip and PIN compliant.