''As the industry leader, VISA has undertaken a number of initiatives in India towards developing the payment industry.
Some of the initiatives are targeted particularly towards tier II and tier III towns,'' Santanu Mukherjee, country manager (South Asia), Visa International, told PTI.
Visa has rolled out its area development programme in 17 cities across the country to increase card acceptance at merchant locations and also launched its indigenously developed low cost card payment terminals exclusively in the Indian market, Mukherjee said.
Visa, having a membership of 42 principal and associate banks in India, ''will also increase its network of member financial institutions in the country so that the benefits of electronic payments are extended to all sections of the population and geographical regions,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Visa card sales volume, which includes cash withdrawals at ATMs, grew by 65 per cent to $ 26 billion during the year ending September, 2005 as compared to the previous year.
The total retail sales volume or spending at point of sale for the same period was $ 4.3 billion, up 67 per cent against year ended September, 2004.
Commenting on the growth, Mukherjee said that even though India remains an overwhelmingly cash-based economy, with increasing consumer expenditure and technological advances in the banking sector, the country has witnessed tremendous growth in payment card usage including credit, debit and prepaid cards.
The total number of credit cards in the country was close to 14 million and debit cards 30 million. Out of this, Visa had about 70 per cent share with nine million credit cards and 21 million debit cards issued till June, 2005.
With India outpacing most other markets in the Asia Pacific region, ''Visa's total card numbers in India exceeded that of most other South and South East Asian nations like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore,'' he said.
Stating that over the last few years, VISA's card numbers have been growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 77 per cent and sales volume at 50 per cent, Mukherjee said the high growth was expected to continue in the year ahead.
About the strategy to popularise card usage in smaller towns, he said the focus for Visa in India was on promoting issuance, usage and increasing acceptance. According to reports, there were about 160,000 merchants in 150 cities accepting payment cards in India last year.
''Overall the growth potential of the payment card industry is tremendous and Visa is working together with its member banks, consumers, merchants and the authorities to ensure that the industry realises its full potential.''
About the Asia Pacific market, he said Visa had a greater market share than all other payment cards combined, with 238 million Visa branded cards in the region in 2004.
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