Mobikwik partners with IDFC Bank, Net 1 to launch a co-branded virtual prepaid card

IDFC Bank, MobiKwik, and Net1 have partnered to launch a co-branded virtual prepaid card on the Visa platform to customers of MobiKwik.

Avtar Monga, Executive Director, IDFC Bank, said: "The prepaid card space is evolving fast, encouraged by technological disruption and a growing preference for digital payments. IDFC Bank's prepaid solutions seamlessly integrate its technology stack with that of MobiKwik, to not only digitize payments but make them transformational, from a customer experience standpoint."

Monga said that "This marks the beginning of a long-term strategic alliance where both partners can leverage their respective strengths. We are delighted to partner MobiKwik, Visa, and Net1 for one of the largest ever issuance of prepaid cards."

The co-branded card is set to be launched in early December. The partnership marks IDFC Bank's biggest foray into the prepaid card segment and significantly enhances MobiKwik's wallet acceptance across Visa's network.

Around 65 million users of the MobiKwik will gain access to an IDFC Bank virtual card embedded within the app, making digital purchases at all e-commerce merchants easier and faster.

Customers of MobiKwik can generate a 16-digit Visa virtual card through the app and use it for e-commerce and online transactions. This is one of the largest issuances of virtual prepaid cards globally.

According to Upasana Taku, Co-Founder, Mobikwik, "On the first anniversary of demonetization, we are happy to note that Indians are fast developing a digital mindset and paying with the MobiKwik wallet has become a habit for millions of Indians. The IDFC powered virtual card will enable MobiKwik users to transact digitally across millions of merchants both on the Mobikwik and Visa networks."

TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager, India & South Asia for Visa, said, "Prepaid instruments are rapidly gaining importance to expand the digital payments market in India. With less than 10 percent of personal consumption expenditure being digital in India, a wider variety of payment instruments helps bring more consumers into the digital payments habit. Helped by a growing number of available applications and acceptance platforms, virtual prepaid cards are fast emerging as a popular form of payment amongst the new breed of online shoppers in India. We are excited to be working with partners like IDFC Bank, and MobiKwik to enable instruments such as the virtual prepaid card, which bring the same level of security, convenience, and ease of use as we have for debit and credit instruments, particularly in the online space."

Dhruv Chopra, Managing Director, Net1 India, said: "We are pleased to enable MobiKwik and IDFC Bank to launch a large-scale virtual card deployment using our proprietary MVC technology. This combined initiative facilitates two key components of financial inclusion, namely accessibility, and interoperability, and supports the coordinated effort to move to a less-cash world."