Mastercard to invest $1bn in India

Global card payments major Mastercard said it will invest $1 billion (about Rs 7,000 crore) in India in the next five years and plans to make the country a global technology node for its platforms. The company has already invested $1 billion in the Indian market in the last five years. Ari Sarker, co-president, Asia Pacific, Mastercard said: "Over the last five years, we invested about $1 billion in India. Given our increasing confidence in the Indian economy, where it is likely to be over the coming decade, we are stepping up on our investment commitment in India. We are committing another $1 billion into India (for next five years)." He said the most crucial thing about this investment is that Mastercard is building India as a global technology node for its global platforms. This investment will help foster innovation and increase Mastercard′s speed-to-market capabilities and value-added services. He added: "What we mean by that is as a payments network we are a global network. All our transactions traverse towards a global network where the technology centres are in the US. And now India is going to become the first country outside of the United States which will have a global technology node.” Of the $1 billion investment, over $300 million will be used to develop the India technology node. The rest of the investment will go towards existing services and expanding capacity among others.