Visa readies India swipe of debit-cum-credit card

After its success in Japan, Visa's latest innovation in plastic money — a single 16-digit card credential that works as both a credit and debit card — is gearing up for entry into India.

- MANOJIT SAHA

Visa Flexible Credential (Visa Flex), one of Visa’s future-ready innovations, is a card that can be configured to function as a debit or credit card based on transaction value, merchant type, customer preference, and a bank's risk appetite. The 16-digit credential of the card remains the same.

For example, users can choose to use the card as a debit card for small-value transactions, while higher-value purchases can be routed through credit.

“Many Indians carry more than one payment card. This can sometimes make choosing the right card or funding source (credit, debit, prepaid, instalments) cumbersome at merchant checkouts,” Sandeep Ghosh, group country manager, India and South Asia, Visa, told Business Standard.