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Consumers in India will have more places to use their Diners Club and Discover cards under a merchant-acquiring deal announced Wednesday. Venture Infotek Global Pvt. Ltd., an Indian processor, says it is has signed a "long-term merchant-acquiring agreement" for the card brands. Discover Financial Services acquired Diners Club International Ltd. from Citigroup in a US$165 million (115.8 million euros) all-cash deal last year. More than 44 licensees, including Citi, issue Diners Club cards globally. Citibank serves as the exclusive issuer of Diners Club in India, Venture Infotek says. A spokesperson for Discover Financial Services tells CardLine Global the brand is not issued in India. The spokesperson would not reveal the number of Diners Clubs cards on issue in India. Venture should begin to roll out its service by the first quarter of 2010, the spokesperson says. "The DC India franchise, owned by Citi Group, has and will also continue to acquire merchant transactions in India," the Discover spokesperson says. Venture will offer acceptance for such merchant categories as restaurants, hotels, airlines, travel agents and "major retail outlets in India," according to a statement from the company. Venture last year processed 150 million card transactions from more than 150,000 merchant locations. Those transactions were worth approximately US$7 billion (4.9 euros), the processor says. Immediate comment from Venture was unavailable. Earlier this month, SIX Multipay AG, a Switzerland-based payment-services provider, said it would start acquiring and processing Diners Club and Discover credit card transactions in January (CardLine Global, 17 Aug.).
