Tide partners with Transcorp to roll-out RuPay powered Expense Card

6 Jul 2022 , 10:35 AM

Tide, the UK’s leading SME-focused business financial platform that began setting up operations in India in 2020, has announced that it has partnered with Transcorp International Limited, a 27-year-old Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulated Authorised Dealer Category II and perpetual Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) license holder, to launch co-branded prepaid cards (Tide Expense Card) as an entry product.

This roll-out stems from Tide’s expansion strategy in India, its first international market outside the UK, and a pillar of its global ambitions.

According to the press release, Tide will offer payment services to small businesses across India, starting with a Tide Business Account, accompanied by a Tide Expense Card. These Tide Expense Cards will be offered in partnership with Transcorp powered by RuPay. Other payment and business services will follow later this year.

The partnership leverages the expertise of RuPay, India’s indigenous payment network, the long-standing reputation of Transcorp, and Tide’s vast experience with SMEs in the UK, to help small businesses in India save time and money.

Commenting on the partnership, Oliver Prill, CEO, Tide, said, “Launching Tide’s business financial platform in India has been our priority since we announced our international expansion. We are excited to partner with Transcorp as we embark on the next stage of Tide’s journey, to serve the 64-million and growing SMEs in the Indian market. With Transcorp, we are ready to begin our initial product offering of Tide India, in order to build the best possible service to help SME owners save time and money.”

Users will be able to activate and manage their Tide Business Account and Tide Expense Card through the Tide app, which will also be used to load money, collect payments and check spends, amongst other services.

Kumar Shekhar, VP, Tide (India), said, “We, at Tide, wish to support entrepreneurs in their journey and believe we’re in a strong position to do exactly that. As we scale-up in India, we will expand our product offerings for small businesses who wish to take the big step of starting out in business — whether it’s as a contractor, freelancer, sole trader, or small business owner.

Transcorp is a great partner for Tide, with a great reputation as an issuer for co-branded prepaid instruments. Transcorp has already demonstrated success with its partners and Tide is delighted to join this illustrious list.”

At around 10:38 AM, Transcorp International was trading at Rs24 per share up by Rs1.65 or 7.38% from its previous closing of Rs22.35 per share on the BSE.