Airtel Payments Bank Unveils RuPay Cards with NCMC Functionality.

Banking & Finance

In April 2025, Airtel Payments Bank, headquartered in New Delhi (Delhi) and a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, collaborated with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), based in Mumbai (Maharashtra), to roll out RuPay cards enabled with National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) functionality.


      - This launch aligns with the Government of India (GoI)’s ‘One Nation, One Card’ initiative, aimed at enabling seamless and interoperable digital payments across the country.

     

     

Main Point :-   (i) The Prepaid Card, linked to a Minimum KYC Wallet, supports both online and offline transactions such as transit payments, PoS purchases, and e-commerce transactions, while the Prepaid Payment Instrument for Mass Transit Systems (PPI MTS) Card is a standalone prepaid card created exclusively for transit-related payments.

      (ii) Airtel Payments Bank has launched three RuPay NCMC card variants to suit different user needs. The Debit Card is linked to a savings account and supports a variety of debit transactions, including transit fares, Point of Sale (PoS) purchases, e-commerce payments, and ATM withdrawals.

(iii) As of April 2025, Airtel Payments Bank has issued over 2.5 million RuPay ON-THE-GO cards integrated with NCMC features. The bank targets expanding this figure to 10 million over the next two years.

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