SBI Cards to issue 25,000 cards under 'Click2Card'

SBI Cards & Payment Services Private Limited (SBI Cards), a joint venture between State Bank of India and GE Capital, is targeting to issue 25,000 credit cards through its ‘Click2Card’ platform by the next financial year.

Click2Card, an online credit card application service, was launched two weeks ago targeting the internet-savvy customers across the country.

Kadambi Narahari, chief executive officer of SBI Cards, said, “With the internet and e-commerce boom in India, customers are increasingly looking for financial products online. Under this initiative, we have already received 3,000 applications, of which, we have already issued 1,200 credit cards.”

SBI Cards, with a current total asset base of Rs 2,500 crore and 2.3 million customer base, operates out of 50 cities in India and issues 575,000 new cards every year. “We have plans to add 1 million new cards to its portfolio by 2014-15,” he said launching the Click2Card service in Hyderabad.

“Andhra Pradesh is a major market for us and contributes 7-8 per cent to the company’s total credit card customer base. We expect it to reach 11 per cent by 2015,” he said.

The credit card industry is at an infant stage in India. The credit card spending was around Rs 96,000 crore last year, and is expected to reach Rs 120,000 crore by March 2013, Narahari said

“Our major focus is to reach out to customers in Tier II and III cities,” Sanjeev Jain, chief executive of GE Capital Business Processes Management Services, said.

SBI Cards also plans to launch SME cards by the next financial year, Narahari said.