To launch cards in association with pharmacy chains and hospitals. | |
| SBI Cards plans to launch cards in association with players in the healthcare industry such as pharmacy chains and hospitals. The first-of-its-kind credit cards would be launched in early 2007. |
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| "Health is a sunrise segment. We expect card spends in this segment to go up. We will look at partners to tie up within the entire chain from pharmacy to clinics to pathology labs to hospitals," said Roopam Asthana, CEO, SBI Cards, on the sidelines of the launch of a co-branded credit card with GoAir, a low cost carrier. |
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| SBI Cards, a joint venture of the country's largest bank State Bank of India (SBI) and GE Money, overtook Citibank to emerge as the second largest issuer of credit cards in September. |
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| SBI Cards had a credit card base of over 30 lakh at the end of September 30, 2006, against Citibank's around 29 lakh. ICICI Bank, the country's second largest bank, is way ahead of both with a card base of over 50 lakh. |
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| Asthana said "The healthcare cards will enable customers to get good deals for insurance and also serve as an identity for the holder. The healthcare cards could be loaded with health insurance information and also personal health details." |
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| Partnership cards are expected to emerge as an important contributor to SBI Cards' new business. |
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| "By 2008, we expect partnership cards to account for one-third of our new business every year," said Asthana. |
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| At present, partnership cards across various segments such as retail, consumer durables, petrochemicals, travel contribute about 10-15 per cent to the new business for SBI Cards. |
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| "On a month-on-month basis, we are the largest issuer of credit cards, adding 1.5 lakh card holders every month," said Asthana. |
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| SBI cards has expanded its presence to 105 cities now from 42 cities at the beginning of the year. |
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| The average card spend on SBI Cards is in line with the industry average of Rs 22,000. |
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