Released on = July 19, 2007, 1:56 am

Press Release Author = Davina

Industry = Internet & Online

Press Release Summary = Avenues becomes the first Indian Payment Gateway to achieve
compliance for the new Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards 1.1

Press Release Body = Avenues India became the first Indian payment gateway to
achieve the new PCI DSS 1.1 Standards of Compliance. This achievement makes it one
of the most secure payment gateways in the world and catapults Avenues into an elite
global club of payment gateways whose membership can be counted on your fingertips.
This achievement covers all the solutions which are currently live - CCAvenue India
for INR processing, CCAvenue World for Multicurrency processing, ResAvenue: the
reservation solution for the hospitality industry and EventAvenue: the registration
and venue management solution for the MICE vertical.

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance is a set of security standards that were
created by the major credit card companies (American Express, Discover Financial
Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa International) to protect their
customers from increasing identity theft and security breaches.

Says Vishwas Patel, Founder - CEO of Avenues "We have always strived to go beyond
the norm in every aspect of our business. Only then can we bring about significant
value addition to our merchants. Achieving the PCI Standards is just another example
of how we like to push the envelope that much further here in Avenues."

Says Seana Pitt, Chairperson, PCI Security Standards Council \"Ensuring the security
of electronic payments is of paramount importance to all stakeholders, not just the
payment brands.\"

About PCI
Consumers have enjoyed using credit and debit cards for many years. However,
sophisticated thieves have been able to extract credit and debit card information
from unsecured databases and other means. This has resulted in a higher incidence of
identity theft, a crime that affects merchant companies, financial institutions,
e-commerce companies and individuals.

Because of these security breaches, the major credit card companies - American
Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa - decided to create regulations to help
prevent theft of consumers\' data. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security
Standards were created by MasterCard and agreed to in 2004 by the four major credit
card companies. Each of the credit card companies has its own term for these
standards. On June 30, 2005, the regulations took effect.

The American Express program is called Data Security Operating Policy (DSOP); the
Discover program is called Discover Information Security and Compliance (DISC);The
MasterCard program is called MasterCard Site Data Protection (SDP); and the Visa
program is called Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP).

About PCI Security Standards Council:
In September of 2006, the five leading payment brands formed an independent council
to manage the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard. American Express,
Discover Financial Services, JCB, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa International saw
the need to secure payment account data in a globally consistent manner. The new
council worked to develop a system that would be more accessible and efficient. As a
result, the ongoing monitoring and development will benefit more than one billion
payment card users.

The Goals of PCI Standards:

Develop and maintain a global, industry-wide technical data security standard for
the protection of accountholder account information;
Reduce costs and lead times for Data Security Standard implementation and compliance
by establishing common technical standards and audit procedures for use by all
payment brands;
Provide a list of globally available, qualified security solution providers via its
Web site to help the industry achieve compliance;
Lead training, education, and a streamlined process for certifying Qualified
Security Assessors (QSAs) and Approved Scanning Vendors (ASVs), providing a single
source of approval recognized by all five founding members; and
Provide a transparent forum in which all stakeholders can provide input into the
ongoing development, enhancement and dissemination of data security standards.
About Avenues
Avenues is a profitable, debt-free company and currently services thousands of
eMerchants worldwide through its solutions www.CCAvenue.com, www.ResAvenue.com,
www.EventAvenue.com, www.MembersAvenue.com, www.TrustAvenue.com, www.BpoAvenue.com.
It is the largest integrated eCommerce solutions provider in South Asia. Avenues has
shown revenue growth and profit growth consistently, year on year. Avenues is
incorporated in India, and has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, and USA. The Avenues
support and development center is based in Mumbai, India. The total strength of the
Avenues team is currently 120 personnel, spanning across all disciplines. For more
information, log onto: www.Avenues.info.



Web Site = http://www.Avenues.info

Contact Details = Avenues India Pvt Ltd
Plaza Asiad, Level II, S.V.Road, Santa Cruz (West), Mumbai 400054. India.
Ph:- +91-22- 67425555 / 26000816 / 30913622 / 56920419
Fax:- +91-22- 26480772 / 67425542