Citibank India and MasterCard today announced the launch of Citi MasterPass, the first global digital wallet in India, making Citibank debit and credit card customers the first in the country to be able to shop at more than 250,000 e-commerce merchants, located in India and worldwide, with a safe, simple and quick online payment experience.

Citi MasterPass safely stores Citibank customers’ card and shipping information all in one place with MasterCard. By selecting “Buy with MasterPass” as the payment option at checkout, customers eliminate the need to fill in details repeatedly across online merchants. This reduces the risk of customers abandoning their shopping carts due to cumbersome payment processes or exposing their personal information over potentially unsafe networks.

“Over the last two years, we have seen an increase of over 76 percent in e-commerce transactions by our customers. These customers are constantly looking for simple, quick and secure experiences while shopping online. Citi MasterPass significantly reduces the checkout time across thousands of e-commerce merchants ensuring this would be the payment solution of choice for consumers in India,” commented Kartik Kaushik, Head of Consumer Banking, Citibank India.

MasterPass is present across 24 countries worldwide and is available to over 40 million consumers in Asia-Pacific alone. India is the first market in Asia Pacific where Citibank card customers will be offered the co-branded MasterPass solution. Today, around 41 percent of all Citibank card transactions in India are performed online, underlining the growing importance of global wallet solutions such as Citi MasterPass.

Speaking at the occasion Vikas Varma, Executive Director, South Asia, MasterCard said, “As Indian consumers embrace a more digital lifestyle, Citi MasterPass will enable efficient, secure and quick checkout experiences for shoppers. We believe Citi MasterPass is a significant step forward in the evolution of electronic payments. Beyond a platform that hosts digital wallets, Citi MasterPass will also provide the technology for merchants to offer new and innovative services, and unique features for shoppers.”

Not only does Citi MasterPass optimize the checkout experience, it is also expected to contribute to expanding e-commerce sales in the country, by reducing the cart abandonment rate with its simple, yet secure payment process.

Spurring E-commerce and Online Sales

Citi MasterPass will be available at over 100 online merchants in the country, with more to come in the future. India’s e-commerce industry is expected to cross 1.08 trillion rupees (USD17.2 billion) at the end of 2015.[1]

Online shopping in India has grown dramatically in the last two years. Around 86.8 percent of Indian consumers indicate that secure payment facilities are critical when shopping online and 47.5 percent cite the perceived lack of safe payment options as the top reason not to shop online. Online purchases via mobile phones in India have grown by more than 100% over the past two years.[2]

“With Citi MasterPass as part of our leading payment platform, we can offer our customers, which include e-commerce merchants, governments and businesses, a new-age payment option that that is both convenient and secure. By accepting Citi MasterPass on their websites and mobile apps, merchants can get access to all Citi MasterPass-connected digital wallets in the world. Citi MasterPass is a significant value-add for the merchants as commerce is increasingly moving to smartphones, and payment solutions need to evolve to be relevant in an increasingly smartphone-driven world,” said Ajay Kaushal, Director, BillDesk.

“Citi MasterPass is a unique payment solution that provides users the convenience to make purchases online in a safe and secure manner. Ease of payments is now becoming key as e-commerce and m-commerce continue to evolve. We are certain that a payment solution such as Citi MasterPass will enhance the consumers’ checkout experience thus making the lives of our customers more expedient and rewarding,” said Shabnam Kadwani, Head of Marketing, Bookmyshow.

“EBay India continues to bring in the best of technology to create engaging, curated and simplified shopping experiences for its buyers. With the surge in online shopping in India, customers are exploring payment options via digital wallets. The introduction of Citi MasterPass will make online transactions seamless and easy for eBay buyers, by consolidating all their expense information and cards in one place,” said Vidmay Naini, Director, Business Operations, eBay India.

Around USD6 billion has been invested into India’s internet sector over the past two years, with USD1.5 billion coming in the first quarter of the calendar year alone. India currently has around 260 million internet users – 92 percent of whom are wirelessly connected and 20 percent of whom are use mobile broadband services, such as 3G. Almost all of new internet users are leapfrogging and going directly to mobile. As a result, mobile already forms 40-60 percent of the traffic/transactions for most companies (and can go as high as 70 percent).

Source: http://newsroom.mastercard.com/press-releases/citibank-india-and-mastercard-launch-citi-masterpass-the-first-global-wallet-in-india/