Transforming Card Issuance in India’s Fintech Era
India is experiencing a seismic shift in its financial services and banking landscape one that is reshaping the future of card issuance. Driven by cutting-edge technologies like AI, blockchain, Aadhaar, e-KYC (electronic know your customer), and Unified Payment Interface (UPI), the country is creating a real-time, inclusive, and scalable financial infrastructure. A new era of digital banking and fintech innovation has been kick-started by government efforts such as Digital India, Jan Dhan Yojana, and UPI, coupled with proactive regulatory support from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). With the Indian fintech industry worth at Rs. 9.61 lakh crore (US$ 111 billion) and projected to grow nearly fourfold to Rs. 36.47 lakh crore (US$ 421 billion) by 2029, India now ranks as the third-largest fintech ecosystem in the world.
This accelerated growth is driven by increased mobile and internet penetration, rapidly evolving consumer demands, and a pandemic-induced shift toward digital behaviour. With over 1 billion debit and credit cards already in circulation and a growing appetite from consumers for innovative solutions in the phygital space, banks are on the hook to modernise classic card issuance models.
Today’s card issuance system
Card issuance is no minor task in India, with over 10.80 crore credit cards and 99.09 crore debit cards in circulation as of December 2024, according to RBI. The value of transactions made via credit and debit cards are substantial, standing at Rs. 20.37 lakh crore (around US$ 2.5 trillion) and Rs. 5.16 lakh crore (around US$ 630 billion) respectively in the 2024 financial year.
For now, banks are still reliant on centralised card manufacturing where banks and non-bank financial institutions issue cards once an application is approved. The card is then later activated. Card delivery timelines may differ depending on the geographical location.
Rethinking traditional card issuance
Standard card issuance systems are struggling to keep up with demands for instant, digital-first services. As the financial sector in India evolves, a manual onboarding process makes card issuance a nightmare in an economy that demands efficacy and convenience.
The costs for in-house personalisation in terms of hardware, facilities, and labour add operational strain, while RBI and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliance becomes more complicated and resource-intensive.
Legacy systems also lack the ability to provide customised omnichannel experiences expected by today’s consumers. In a world defined by speed, security, and customer-centricity, traditional card issuance models are proving too slow. In addition, there is a growing need to adopt robust, digital-first card issuance solutions to accelerate the growth of financial institutions in India.
Revolutionising digital payments with modern card issuance
Modern card issuance systems are digital first, offering India’s banking sector a shiny new opportunity for agility, flexibility, and customer centricity. Advanced card issuance services combine digital technology with operational efficiency and focus on sustainability to deliver on all fronts for consumers and financial institutions alike.
An important innovation of this modern solution is instant issuance. This enables banks to issue cards that are fully activated instantly at any branch. This means doing away with long wait times – which of course improves customer satisfaction and engagement.
Building on the digital-first approach, virtual cards can also be issued directly and instantly to mobile wallets before a physical card is delivered. Customers can benefit from immediate, smooth, and uninterrupted access to financial services as soon as they open an account.
Further enhancing the customer experience, new innovations like interactive “magic paper” solutions are bridging the gap between physical and digital banking. For example, banks can now use NFC-enabled, interactive documents that allow customers to activate cards, access personalised offers, or receive onboarding support simply by tapping their smartphone on a printed letter or brochure. This “phygital” approach streamlines onboarding, improves engagement, and delivers tailored digital content instantly making the card issuance journey more intuitive and impactful for Indian consumers.
In addition, AI-powered card design platforms are emerging, enabling customers to personalise their payment cards through intuitive digital interfaces while ensuring compliance with bank and regulatory requirements. This level of personalisation appeals to India’s tech-savvy, experience-driven consumers and allows banks to differentiate their offerings in a competitive market.
These capabilities are powered by a cloud-based issuance platform that offers a secure, scalable, and compliant architecture. By moving card issuance to the cloud, banks won’t have to pay the exorbitant costs for in-house hardware. Cloud-based issuance platforms also give banks the benefit of agility by enabling them to respond rapidly to a fluctuating market.
Beyond that, outsourced issuance services offer a turnkey solution for personalisation, logistics, and secure card fulfilment. This eases the operational burden on banks. It decreases potential concerns regarding backend complexity and frees them up to concentrate on innovation and improving customer experience.
Together, these technologies represent a sea of change in card issuance, one that empowers banks to provide safer, faster, and more personalised services while enabling agility and future-readiness in an increasingly dynamic digital economy.
