UnionPay International announced today that it has partnered with Pine Labs, a fintech company in Indian, to increase merchant visibility and train key merchants about UnionPay acceptance by the first quarter of 2019. This partnership will increase UnionPay’s visibility at key segments, offering safe and convenient payment services to UnionPay cardholders visiting the country.

Cash is still the major payment method in India, and the Indian government has now set its goal to building a “Digital India” so as to accelerate the development of the digital payment industry. Meanwhile, the Indian tourism department plans to attract over 14 million Chinese tourists in the next five years and is taking a series of measures to improve its service capabilities to Chinese tourists.

In this context, UnionPay International has reached partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The two have jointly enabled almost all local ATMs and 50% merchant terminals to accept UnionPay cards. These merchants include hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, duty-free shops and brand stores in major cities across India. UnionPay cardholders visiting India this year will enjoy quite smooth payment experience. Zhu Jiayin, a Chinese tourist who has just visited India, gave her advice on Weibo to tourists planning to visit India: tourists are not advised to prepare the Indian Rupee in advance, for ATMs accepting UnionPay cards can be found almost everywhere. Another Chinese tourists “Monkey King” found it very easy to use the UnionPay card during her stay in Delhi: many Indian-style and Chinese-style restaurants in Delhi provide special offers for UnionPay cardholders.

UnionPay International now partners with Pine Labs to accelerate the expansion of its acceptance network by leveraging on Pine Labs’ extensive merchant network across over 3,000 cities in India. The two sides will realize UnionPay acceptance at merchants in various fields including accommodation, retail, telecommunications and aviation. These merchants include shopping malls in Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi, five-star hotels and popular F&B merchants such as Starbucks and McDonald's. The two will also jointly train cashiers and post the UnionPay logos at the merchants.

With the coming Chinese Spring Festival, UnionPay is providing abundant offers to cardholders visiting India. UnionPay cardholders are able to get 12%-off discount at MedPlus, the second largest pharmacy chain in India. They are also entitled to 20%-off discount at Tattva Spa and 15%-off discount at Four Fountains De-Stress Spa. 10%-off discount are also available at duty-free shops in Delhi and Mumbai as well as at Tribe Amrapali.