Mastercard eyes on tapping India's e-commerce growth
Identifying India among top priorities in the Asia-Pacific region, Global payments giant Mastercard said they will further invest in the country, where they grew by over 30% in the last two years. MasterCard's senior VP Sam Ahmed said the investment plans fit in the government's "digital India" plans. Masterpass, face recognition system are among the digital payment innovations proposed for Indian e-commerce market.
India is a top priority
India is one of the top priorities in the region. "We have increased our investments in India by over 30% in the last two years and we are going to increase it even more", said Sam Ahmed, MasterCard's senior vice-president of marketing for Asia Pacific.
Mastercard and digital India
Ahmed said India is among fastest growing e-commerce nations. Mastercard is keen on supporting government's digitalization plans, Ahmed said, adding that the company wants to help customers understand the concept. Investments will be directed towards the digital and e-commerce engine that meets consumer demands. The company will tie up with small businesses, merchants and outbound travellers to execute the investment plan.
India's growing e-commerce market
In 2016, e-commerce in India registered an estimated growth of 12%, touching USD 14.5 billion. The industry is expected to touch USD 80 billion by 2020. The largest e-commerce players in India are Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and Paytm.
Movies and sports events for Mastercard tie-ups
Mastercard will sponsor local sporting events and tap movie launches as part of its marketing strategy in India. "Movies are such a passion in India. The area we are looking at is movie launches," Ahmed said. The company sponsors sports like golf and football in India. Ahmed said sponsorship events helped in realizing potential in payment innovations.
What is Masterpass?
Masterpass is a service that enables consumers to pay with any payment card and is compatible on any device. Additionally, it allows consumers to save all their card related information in one place, thereby eliminating the need to enter the same information for every transaction.
