'Need coordinated data regulation in a connected world'

Mastercard Inc.’s dominance in the payment process makes the company, along with Visa Inc., no less than what Google Llc is to search. But a more important fact—and less discussed detail —is the company’s impressive profitability: Mastercard ended with a 58.3% operating margin on $6.3 billion in revenue in the second quarter. In an interview, Michael Miebach, the chief executive who succeeded Ajay Banga in 2021, discussed Mastercard’s Indian strategy. Edited excerpts:

- Varun Sood & Satish John

In what ways do you see India’s digital stack evolving?

A good way to start is by looking at some of the unique factors around India, the most populous country in the world. So, traditional solutions have not reached enough people in the country. With the launch of the India Tech Stack, the public sector has stepped in, with the Government of India saying that ‘to unlock the full potential of 1.4 billion people, we need to reach everybody and pull them into a digital ecosystem’. So, the public sector lays the tracks and then you invite the private sector to innovate up on that. Look at Paytm, Google Pay, and the banks and everybody else bringing in solutions to use that public infrastructure. So, what is there to learn is that public-private partnership does make sense because the state can lay the tracks, which has happened here.

Would you like to partner with RuPay to expand to the emerging economies?

We are open to all kinds of partnerships. We partner with government payment systems in many parts of the world. Take a look at Europe, in my home country in Germany, and a whole range of examples around the world. India is a tremendous market and RuPay is growing. So are we. So, who knows what will happen in the future.