Visa eyes card growth among India's affluent segment amid UPI surge

Suresh Sethi, who assumed the role of Visa's group country manager for India and South Asia in April, has outlined the payments firm's strategy to maintain relevance in a rapidly evolving digital payments landscape. While acknowledging the transformative impact of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) platforms in democratising digital transactions, Sethi pointed to card-based payment systems as essential for targeting higher-income consumer segments.

The card payment industry in India has faced significant headwinds from the explosive growth of UPI, which has captured a dominant share of retail digital transactions through its low-cost, interoperable framework. However, card networks like Visa continue to see opportunities in premium customer segments where spending patterns and transaction values create distinct use cases.

Sethi's comments reflect broader industry efforts to carve out sustainable niches within India's competitive payments ecosystem. Rather than competing directly with UPI in mass-market segments, card networks are increasingly focusing on affluent consumers who seek benefits such as rewards programmes, purchase protection, and credit facilities that traditional card products offer.

The positioning underscores how India's payment infrastructure is evolving to support multiple rails simultaneously, with different instruments serving different consumer demographics and transaction types. As digital payments penetration continues to deepen across income groups, card issuers and networks are adapting their strategies to remain relevant within this segmented market dynamic.