Banks came into existence in this world before fiat currency at first banks used to store valuable assets like gold, daimonds etc but later in mid 18th century when USA government introduced fiat currency which is totally made up of paper but said it has value and you have to accept it over gold since then americans started using fiat currency and banks also accepting it.
In sense, the era of fiat currency begin in country USA after that most countries around the world including India gradually started printing thier own fiat currency with it’s own name and value based on reserves and economy of country in order to issue them to people that worked out pretty well as it’s easy to use fiat currency.
However, people at first used to don’t believe and trust in fiat currency but eventually almost everyone accepted the fact fiat currency is new money except some people who prefer gold and diamonds as form of money due to that almost all banks globally provided facilities to co-store them as well.
Majority of people store money in banks as they employ qualified people to audit and put your money in safe lockers with security protocols to protect and safe guard your money either fiat currency or assets like gold and daimonds etc thus no one else other then you can withdraw and use your money comfortably.
Even though, fiat currency accepting banks in early phase used to be very basic but later on inventors and companies around the world build many technologies to provide extra facilities and improve protection of money because of that by mid 19th century we got modern banks.
Now a days, we have two types of banks, government banks are run by government itself and then private banks are owned by companies which may have different policies and features but anyone either government or private banks must have to follow government appointment regulatory body rules in serving state and country.
Anyhow, Modern banks introduced many features to use and send fiat currency like cheques, ATM – anytime money machine in year 1957 and payment cards in year 1967, international transfers etc especially since 20th century modern banks progressed to new level as part of digital technology era they released alot of revolutionary features like digital platforms to use or send money using electronic devices.
In case of india, one of the leading developing countries in the world with more then 1 billion people highest population ranks at top 2 next to china where people for long time like centuries mostly relyed on fiat currency type of money payment system to buy goods after ancient barter system at first most people in india used to store fiat currency in home and secret places but later on they started storing in banks for safety.
Indian government especially as part of economic reforms in year 1991 focused on improving banks with new terms and policies to store and handle people money efficiently as banks play major role in increasing country economy after that Indian banks themselves upgraded thier infrastructure with the help of government according to requirements timely.
Unfortunately, in india we got modern banks lately like first ATM in year 1987 by HSBC but still majority of people for decades didn’t use latest features of modern banks like ATMs, payment cards etc due to lack of awareness instead they depended on cheques to withdraw or send money locally or internationally.
Fortunately, in year 2012 National Payments Corporation of India a government body of india introduced credit and debit pre-paid cards named Rupay to let people in india do contact less payments which is bit succesfull but still reach is limited to some people for various reasons because at that time government didn’t promoted it much to make common people use them.
The percentage of contact less digital payments in india is very low considering it’s population and prevailing technologies when compared with other countries that has to be changed to make India and its people adapt new technologies available in world thus it can compete with existing developed countries in all matters.
Thankfully, In year 2014 when Narendra Modi sworn as prime minister of India he introduced make in india program in order to promote india made products that will
reduce reliance on other countries which directly increase economy including that he also introduced digital india program to digitalize indian people in every sector.
Digital india program was effectively promoted by indian government to digitalize india due to that many sectors were digitalized in india including public and private banks because of that the percentage of people who use credit and debit card increased to new heights.
But, even after digital india program people used to prefer and like foriegn cards like MasterCard and Visa as they provide more features and support almost all countries over Rupay which is limited to work only in india due to that government is not directly benefiting at the same time relying on foreign companies for payment is not good for advancing india so to fix that indian government started promoting Rupay everywhere extensively.
Rupay doubled it’s userbase in just few years thanks to indian government efforts but still large people in india used to do regular contact payments or depended on MasterCard and Visa as many companies and india banks by default used to offer MasterCard or Visa credit and debit card to people as part of partnerships.
In year 2016, Indian government to eradicate black money demonetized old currency notes and introduced new currency which is not smooth because of that people struggled to get new currency notes but demonetization helped india to get millons of black money from non tax payers at that same time made people to use online digital payment platforms.
Demonetization of old currency notes made comman people to use UPI aka unified payment interface on online payment platforms or payments cards to use or send money in that process Rupay gained massive users in india but still as Rupay is only available in india it was not able to get customers in all fields.
Recently, from past few years indian government to reduce foreign companies dominace in india and reach Rupay to everyone started increasing Rupay supported countries by collaborating with foreign governments and companies to accept Rupay payment cards because of that Rupay getting required recognition for thumping success in future.
Especially, since year 2014 indian government made it compulsory for Indian banks to issue Rupay credit or debit card by default to indian customers in order to promote home grown technologies which MasterCard and Visa didn’t like so they complained to US government about indian government formal and informal promotions of Rupay payment cards.
Atlast, now Rupay is constantly growing at rapid speed with millions of users but some digital platforms and many countries still unsupported by Rupay which indian government and NPCI have to work on to support as soon as possible if they do that then Rupay will completely replace MasterCard and Visa in india.
Finally, this is Rupay India’s indigenous payment card named out of it’s currency Rupee, are you an existing user of Rupay? If yes do say your experience and mention why you use Rupay over MasterCard and Visa in including that kindly specify which features of Rupay you like the most in our comment section below, see ya 🙂