Central Bank of India and Suvidhaa in collaboration with MasterCard launch unique open loop prepaid Card for retailers

Central Bank of India and Suvidhaa in collaboration with MasterCard launch unique open loop prepaid Card for retailers

Mr Rajeev Rishi, Chairman and Managing Director, Central Bank of India launched the Channel Card for the traditional retailer community on Thursday. Also seen are Mr Paresh Rajde, Founder & Chairman, Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd and Mr Haresh Bathija, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd.

MUMBAI, September 12, 2013: Central Bank of India, a leading public sector bank along with Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd, India’s leading retail services company, and MasterCard, the leading card network company, today announced the launch of the first-of-its-kind open loop prepaid card viz., the “Channel Card”, for the traditional retailer community. The Channel Card was launched by Mr Rajeev Rishi, Chairman and Managing Director, Central Bank of India along with Mr. Paresh Rajde, Founder & Chairman, Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd and Mr Vikas Varma, Area Head- South Asia, MasterCard.

The “Central Bank of India-Suvidhaa Channel Card” is a unique multi-purpose open loop prepaid card launched exclusively to empower over 65000 Suvidhaa retailers to offer a wide range of services to their customers across 2800 towns in India. The services include utility bill payments, payment of municipal taxes, travel ticketing, shopping and much more.  The Channel Card can also be used at all MasterCard enabled online merchant portals and PoS terminals across India.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Rajeev Rishi, Chairman and Managing Director, Central Bank of India said, “Central Bank of India has launched several prepaid cards in the past, to cater to the growing prepaid market. However the launch of the “Central Bank of India-Suvidhaa Channel Card” is the first-of-its-kind since it is offered exclusively to the B2B segment.  Central Bank of India is glad to be associated with Suvidhaa for its first co-branded prepaid card. The launch of this Card with its unique offering will empower large number of Suvidhaa retailers to reach out to both the banked and the un-banked population across the country, especially in tier II and tier III cities, thus furthering the cause of financial inclusion”

“Suvidhaa, having pioneered the Service Commerce (S-Commerce®) in India has been at the forefront of innovation delivering neighbourhood convenience to over 15mn digitally excluded customers through its vast retailer network. As the country’s largest marketplace for customer-centric services and payments, the Channel Card will further empower our retailers and widen their service offerings.  We are extremely proud to launch this unique prepaid card in partnership with Central Bank of India and MasterCard”, said Mr. Paresh Rajde, Founder and Chairman, Suvidhaa.

Also present on the occasion, Mr. Vikas Varma, area head- South Asia, MasterCard stated, “MasterCard is excited to partner with Central Bank of India and Suvidhaa for this unique and innovative B2B prepaid card program. MasterCard is committed to providing safe & secure payments and the Channel Card is a significant step forward in our endeavor to empower retailers which will further enhance customers’ shopping experience.”

About Central Bank of India

Established in 1911, Central Bank of India was the first Indian commercial bank which was wholly owned and managed by Indians. The establishment of the Bank was the ultimate realisation of the dream of Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala, founder of the Bank. Sir Pherozeshah Mehta was the first Chairman of a truly ‘Swadeshi Bank’. In fact, such was the extent of pride felt by Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala that he proclaimed Central Bank of India as the 'property of the nation and the country's asset'. He also added that 'Central Bank of India lives on people's faith and regards itself as the people's own bank'.

Central Bank of India has always been a pioneer in alternate and e – banking products. First bank to launch credit cards in India in 1980 has presented an array of credit, debit & prepaid cards to meet the needs of today's consumer. The Bank wishes to provide its customers an ability to do hassle free cashless transaction along with the power of money in their hand with all security features and risk mitigation methods. The purpose is to enable customer with the power of money anytime and anywhere.

About Suvidhaa

Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt Ltd is India’s largest Service Commerce (S-Commerce) organisation engaged in the e-distribution of the widest and the largest bouquet of G2C/B2C services through a simple, scalable, fully integrated technology platform. It was founded and seed funded by its Founder and Chairman, Mr Paresh Rajde in 2007 and then angel funded by Mr Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, Chairman of one of India’s leading Business Group. Suvidhaa was further on venture funded by Norwest Venture Partners, which is a global capital firm and has funded over 450 companies in the US since inception, as well as several direct investments in India, Reliance Venture Asset Management Ltd, which is a corporate venture capital arm of Reliance ADA group, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) a member of World Bank Group and Mitsui & Co Ltd, which is one of the most diversified service enterprise in the world.

Suvidhaa today offers livelihood promotion to over 65,000 retailers (Suvidhaa franchisee) in over 2,800 cities / towns across 28 states serving over 15 million unique customers annually. Suvidhaa’s robust technology platform has the capability to process over 45 million transactions per month for more than 300 Brands/Service Providers across 20 industry categories. Suvidhaa also powers a host of Common Service Centres (CSCs) engaged in the National e-Governance Plan of the Central Govt. of India. 

Suvidhaa has been a recipient of several prestigious awards including the Red Herring 100 Asia Award for its innovative technology platform and best socio-economic model. The company has also been awarded the Virtual Corporation Award for Digital Inclusion of Rural and Urban Poor in 2009 and the Financial Inclusion Award in 2010 by SKOCH. Recently, Suvidhaa was voted as the Most Trusted Brand in the Retail Services Category in the Brand Trust Report- India Study 2013.

About MasterCard

MasterCard (NYSE: MA) is a technology company in the global payments industry. MasterCard operates the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone.