Mastercard is planning to increase its investments in India to expand digital payment innovations including face recognition, Masterpass and other online payment methods.
Despite note ban, Indian consumers are most optimistic in Asia-Pacific: Mastercard Survey
"India is one of the top priorities in the region. We have increased our investments in India by over 30 percent in the last two years and we are going to increase it even more," Sam Ahmed, Mastercard's senior vice president of marketing for Asia Pacific, told PTI.
The payments gateway company's investments in the country will also be channelised towards digital and e-commerce business by partnering with small businesses, merchants and outbound travelers.
Mastercard sees India as one of the fastest growing e-commerce countries. Ahmed said the company's investment plans were in line with the government's Digital India initiative and that higher mobile penetration in India is key to get the users access to such digital payment innovations.
The company is also planning to tap movie launches and sponsoring local sports as a part of its marketing campaigns. "Movies are such a passion in India. The area we are looking at is movie launches," Ahmed said.
Currently, Mastercard has Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor and his daughter Sonam Kapoor as its brand ambassadors.
The global card giant is reportedly in talks to finalize the details about its expansion in local sporting events. Mastercard currently sponsors sports like golf and football in India.
Ahmed said that sponsorship events were important to realize Mastercard's potential in innovative payment technologies.
