Diners Club and Discover cards will be accepted in more places in India under a merchant-acquiring deal announced last week.
Venture Infotek Global Pvt. Ltd., an Indian processor, said it has signed a "long-term merchant-acquiring agreement" for the card brands. Discover Financial Services in Riverwoods, Ill., bought Diners Club International Ltd. from Citigroup Inc. in a $165 million all-cash deal last year.
More than 44 licensees, including Citi, issue Diners Club cards globally.
Citibank is the exclusive issuer of Diners Club in India, Venture Infotek said.
A representative for Discover said its cards are not issued in India and would not reveal the number of Diners Clubs cards issued in the country.
Venture Infotek should begin to roll out its service by the first quarter of 2010, the representative said. "The [Diners Club] India franchise, owned by Citigroup, has and will also continue to acquire merchant transactions in India."
Venture Infotek said it will offer acceptance for such merchant categories as restaurants, hotels, airlines, travel agents and "major retail outlets in India."
Last year, it said, it processed 150 million card transactions, worth about $7 billion, from more than 150,000 merchant sites.
This month, Six Multipay AG, a Swiss payment-services provider, said it would start acquiring and processing Diners Club and Discover credit card transactions in January.
