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MasterCard plans to invest $700-800 million in India between now and 2020, according to MasterCard’s Indian Country Head Porush Singh.

That’s double the $400 million that the firm has invested in India since 2014, according to The Hindu Business Line. The funds will reportedly go into four areas: processing, mobile technology and solutions, data analytics, and "royalty for technology as a whole." The firm may also work with the Indian government on other initiatives, like smart cities, moving forward.

The planned investment is a vote of confidence in the potential of the Indian market.

Indian card and electronic payments have room to grow. India is a very cash-dependent market – less than 5% of the country’s personal spending is transacted electronically, according to Business Insider India.

India is a very cash-dependent market – less than 5% of the country’s personal spending is transacted electronically, according to Business Insider India. The firm plans to partner with smaller merchants in order to capitalize. MasterCard believes that a wider acceptance network is the key to growing card usage — something that likely requires building out a more robust point-of-sale (POS) terminal ecosystem. MasterCard plans to do this by partnering with smaller merchants, who are the least likely to accept payment cards, but comprise 45% of India’s GDP. The firm is partnering with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to better access these small businesses.

MasterCard believes that a wider acceptance network is the key to growing card usage — something that likely requires building out a more robust point-of-sale (POS) terminal ecosystem. MasterCard plans to do this by partnering with smaller merchants, who are the least likely to accept payment cards, but comprise 45% of India’s GDP. The firm is partnering with the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to better access these small businesses. MasterCard’s priorities are in line with the strategic direction of India’s payments market. One area the firm is investing heavily in is mobile, which seems to be the key in getting users access to financial services. Mobile penetration in India is at 80%, but bank account penetration is just 53%. That's leading financial firms to use mobile as a tool to grant consumers' access to financial services.

Emerging markets like India are becoming a lucrative target for legacy financial firms. That’s because early investment in payment cards and POS terminal infrastructure can help networks like MasterCard control a sizable share of transaction-related fee revenue as the ecosystem develops.

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