21 businesses to accept India’s RuPay card in UAE

21 businesses and 5,000 ATMs across the UAE will soon start accepting India’s RuPay card.

According to the national news agency WAM, the card payment scheme was launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday during his visit to the UAE.

An MoU was also signed to establish a technology interface between the payment platforms in India and the UAE.

That enables the RuPay card to be used at point-of-sale terminals across the Emirates with individual businesses expected to announce the start date of accepting the card in their outlets.

Meanwhile three UAE banks – Emirates NBD, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Bank of Baroda - will soon start issuing RuPay cards for UAE residents.

RuPay is an Indian equivalent of a Mastercard or Visa card. 

It is India’s domestic debit and credit card payment network with wide acceptance at ATMs, point of sale devices and e-commerce websites across the country.

Today, there are close to 500 million RuPay cards in circulation in India.

The UAE now becomes the first Middle East country to witness the launch of the card after its overseas introduction in Singapore and Bhutan.

Here are the 21 businesses that now accept RuPay in the UAE:

NMC Healthcare, Lulu Group, Aster DM Healthcare, Landmark Group, Sobha Ltd, Apparel Group, Nikai Group, Regal Group of Companies, ITL Cosmos, Jashanmal National Company LLC, Allana Group FMCG Products, Petrochem Middle East, Transworld Group, Al Dobowi Group, VPS Healthcare, UPL Group, Conares, Al Maya Group, EPS Facilities Services Group, Emaar and DP World.