Paytm partnered with banking institution Citigroup to launch a credit card, boosting the Indian digital payment company’s offering to customers as competition steps up in the market.

The Paytm First Card will offer Paytm’s 300 million customers 1 per cent cashback on all transactions, differing from current credit cards in the country which offer reward points.

For Citigroup, the deal gives it access to a thriving digital payments market.

Boston Consulting Group forecast the country’s digital payments sector would grow to $500 billion by 2020, as a number of companies including Google compete in the segment.

Paytm has particularly benefitted from the government’s decision to ban high-value currency notes in 2016, providing a big boost to digital payments.

In a news conference announcing the deal, Stephen Bird, CEO of Global Consumer Banking at Citi, said even if 1 per cent of Paytm’s customers take a credit card, it will provide a major boost. “We think there is tremendous potential for growth of this partnership,” he said.

SoftBank and Alibaba are investors in One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent company.

Vijay Sharma, founder and CEO of One97 Communications, said the company was targeting “urban aspirational users who ae first-time credit users”.