French security and identity solutions provider IDEMIA has secured certification from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to manufacture and personalise RuPay chip contact as well as contactless cards in India.
Said to be the first company to obtain this certification, IDEMIA received this certification following the review of all payment scenarios by NPCI to ensure that the manufactured cards will be compatible with all payment acceptance devices.
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IDEMIA will manufacture the new cards on the qSPARC v2 platform, a dual interface open loop payment specification that features an option to enable loading of various payment applications on one card.
Contactless cards in India
Users will be able to use a single card for different types of payments, including metro, bus, toll, loyalty, parking and retail purchases. The qSPARC option facilitates up to 20 such applications on a single card.
The qSPARC-based National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) has already been deployed in Kochi Metro, Bangalore Bus Transport, Ahmedabad Smart City, with plans for expansion to Nagpur, Noida Metro and Navi Mumbai bus transport ticketing.
Till date, a total of more than 1.5 million NCMC cards have been issued in the country.
IDEMIA regional president for activities in India Sanjeev Shriya said: “This certification recognises IDEMIA’s commitment to continually invest in the development of technologies for enhancing and securing the payment experience for Indians and establishes once again our leadership in this space.
“This qSPARC certification will increase the usability of bank issued cards with an enhanced value proposition for all stakeholders.”
