Credit cards are the new black for payments companies

The likes of Paytm and Amazon Pay once saw credit cards as competition. Now they see them as a lifeline

Payments firms set out to disrupt traditional payment modes, but have now partnered with banks to launch credit cards

This gives payments companies a much-needed revenue stream, while giving banks access to credit-worthy customers

Banks will also foot the bill for the generous rewards payments companies want to shower on users

Could this finally unlock the full potential of India’s credit card space?

A few years ago, around 2016-17, everyone was predicting an imminent disruption in the payments space. Traditional payments products by banks, they said, would be overthrown by younger, nimbler payments companies.

Leading the pack of would-be soothsayers was Nandan Nilekani, payments maven and architect of the government’s unique ID system Aadhaar. “All banking products will be disrupted,” he said ominously in 2016.

Then came Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of Paytm*. “The cost that banks put on the payments [is big]. I don’t know… it’s your money, moving from your account to this account.

AUTHOR

Arundhati Ramanathan

Arundhati is Bengaluru-based. She is interested in how people use money in the digital age and how new economies will take shape based on that interaction. She has spent over 10 years reporting and writing on various subjects. Previous stints were at Mint, Outlook Business and Reuters.

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