Mastercard is betting big on India's digital economy push. In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18, the global CEO of the company said that India has the potential to become the largest digital economy in the world.

Miebach is on his first visit to India after taking charge as CEO of Mastercard. “What I see today, particularly through the lens of our business when we look at the digital economy and how it is growing in India and growth rates of UPI and so forth, there is technology put to work at scale and unprecedented ways in India,” he said.

“As a tech company and as a tech geek, I find that hugely exciting,” he added.

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He sees models emerging in India which might align with Mastercard's growth ambitions in the country.

"One should think about and also see what else Mastercard can do to evolve its business in partnerships with fintech and other companies that are using these technologies here in India," he said.

In terms of an inclusive digital economy, he believes there is an amazing drive in India for financial inclusion. “We think that there is going to be 100 million people that will join to form a digital economy in India in the next couple of years.”

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When asked what kind of innovations one can expect out of India that can possibly be exported, he replied, “Pay every which way you want, whenever you want always on the basis of it is safe and secure. That is the headline.”

“It is going to be paying in the metaverse, it is going to be paying through voice, it is going to be paying through offline and in areas of the country where you have no GSM coverage or it is not as good as it needs to be. So every bit of technology that is there today is going to give us a huge boost,” the Mastercard CEO explained.

Miebach also stressed that they are not a credit card company anymore and have transformed into a global payments and technology firm.

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In terms of future investments, he mentioned, “We are not a credit card company. As a payment technology company, our strategy is to be in payments, whatever choice of payments is there.”

He believes the question of trust and security is the most important in a digital economy.

“The question on cyber security and how do you make sure that these payments remain safe as this becomes one of the largest digital economies in the world, that is a partnership area,” he said.

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(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)

First Published:Aug 18, 2022 1:56 PM IST