NEW DELHI: India’s largest private bank HDFC Bank Ltd. is seeking to issue a million credit cards a month, a remarkable bounce-back for the lender after the country’s regulator banned it from taking on new card clients two years ago.
The bank wants to double the current pace of half a million new credit card issuances every month, according to Parag Rao, country head for payments business, consumer finance, digital banking, and marketing. The firm will announce partnerships across a range of industries from online retail to food delivery in the coming weeks to increase spending on cards, Rao said.
The recovery for HDFC Bank has been swift since the eight-month-long card ban was lifted in August last year, with the lender seeking to move past the punishment for repeated online glitches that hurt its customers. Reserve Bank of India data showed that the bank captured 29% of India’s overall spending on credit cards in October, the highest among its competitors.
“We focus not only on the issuance of cards which is a distribution game, but on deep engagement, ensuring customers find more value in their cards, and keep spending,” Rao said in an interview.
The partnerships in the next few weeks also include two airlines and a large hotel chain, according to Rao. HDFC Bank is in the final stages of developing a new digital credit card to pull in younger customers, he added.
Banks in the world’s second most populated country are poised to benefit from the growth in online shopping where customers use their credit cards for purchases. Between 200 million and 300 million Indians are expected to spend $50 billion on online retail this year, according to a Bain & Co Inc. report.
Source: Times Of India
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