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eading global payments and technology company MasterCard is aiming for double-digit growth in debit and credit cards users in Indonesia next year, amid low credit card penetration in the country.

Only 7 percent of the country’s 250 million inhabitants use credit cards to make payments, while the remaining 93 percent still rely on cash, said MasterCard’s division president for Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, Safdar Khan.

“It is a behavioral change that will take a certain amount of time or a few years for people feel more comfortable. Indonesia is not just about big cities, you also have a larger rural population,” Khan said on the sidelines of the online McDelivery launch in Jakarta on Thursday.

In a bid to further boost cashless payments, he continued, the company had sealed several collaborations, including with fast food giant McDonalds Indonesia. It allows customers to enjoy up to a 25 percent discount on delivery orders made online or through its mobile app with a MasterCard.

As people are becoming more app-based in their activities, they are more likely to opt for non-cash payment methods for efficiency reasons, according to Khan. The 2016 MasterCard Online Shopping Behavior Study shows 21.5 percent of the respondents in Indonesia last year preferred using delivery services, a 4.7 percent increase from 16.8 percent in 2014.

In the study, respondents said there were three factors encouraging them to purchase goods online, namely the value of the product (94.1 percent), easy payment method (93.9 percent) and transaction speed (93.3 percent).

McDonalds Indonesia chief finance officer Yanti Lawidjaja hopes the service will help the country go cashless and boost the number of users of its newly launched McDelivery, an android and smartphone-based app.

“This service is in line with Bank Indonesia’s [BI] national non-cash movement program to create a non-cash society for simpler and safer transactions,” Yanti said.

In the first nine months of 2016, BI recorded 122.94 million active ATM cards and debit cards in Indonesia, while the number of credit card holders reached 17.22 million by October, a 2.85 percent increase from 16.75 million in the corresponding period last year.

MasterCard has also sealed collaboration with domestic lender Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) Syariah, to provide ATM cards for the bank’s customers who go on the haj and umrah (minor haj). They have cooperated with a private bank in Saudi Arabia to provide special ATMs to better assist Indonesian pilgrims.

As the world’s most populous muslim-majority nation, nearly 200,000 Indonesians spend millions of rupiah to go on the haj annually. (wnd)