Mumbai: Payments Council of India (PCI), the apex body representing the companies in the payments and settlement system, in its latest Annual General Meeting, has announced the appointment of Vishwas Patel, Director, Infibeam Avenues, as its new Chairman.
Vishwas has been associated with PCI ever since its inception in 2013 and was serving as its Co-Chairman of Payments Council of India. He takes over from Naveen Surya, who has been elevated to the post of Chairman Emeritus. PCI has also announced the appointment of Loney Antony, Managing Director, Hitachi Payment Services as its new Co-Chairman.
Responsibilities as PCI Chairman
In his capacity as the Chairman of PCI, Vishwas will drive the agenda of creating a sustainable environment conducive to the development of digital payments industry in India. He along with Loney and Naveen will strive towards achieving the government’s target of growing the volume of digital transactions to 30 billion for the financial year 2018-19.
The newly appointed leadership team will lay considerable focus on ironing out the micro issues faced by the industry such as Implementation of Interoperability of Prepaid Payments Instruments, reimbursement issues related to Debit Card MDR for transactions up to Rs. 2000, and simplification of outward remittance regulations among others.
Patel Speaks on New Role
Speaking on the occasion, Vishwas Patel, Chairman, PCI, said “I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all the members of the Payment Council of India. I am honoured and humbled that they have placed their trust in me. With their trust, I will work tirelessly on PCI’s behalf to help address challenges, and to secure lasting and meaningful solutions to all the issues faced by our payments industry. The industry has huge potential in our country and simultaneously my considerable efforts will be laid on leapfrogging the industry to great heights.”
A veteran in the digital payments industry, Vishwas has been instrumental in driving the industry initiative of equitable distribution of Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) between acquirers and merchants. As a voice of the payments industry, he has also spoken at multiple government and industry forums highlighting the challenges faced by the net banking, debit and credit cards industry and possible recommendations to take the industry forward.
Commenting on the appointment, Naveen Surya, Chairman Emeritus, PCI, said ‘’I would like to congratulate Vishwas and Loney. Both are innovators and great leaders, who understand the nitty-gritty of the industry. The digital payments industry in India has seen uncharted growths in the last few years and I am confident that under their able leadership, the industry will reach new milestones. I wish them all the success.’’
