Visa To Launch Debit Card In '99
MONEY MARKET REPORt
Visa International, the global cards payment franchiser, introduced its first debit product in India. `Electron', Visa's debit-cum-ATM card, will be launched by eight banks in 1999, of which HDFC Bank, Citibank and ANZ Grindlays Bank will offer the card in the first half of the year, said Douglas Lawson, director of deposit access, Visa International Asia-Pacific.
A debit card is a global electronic debit payment system that allows consumers to have direct access to their bank accounts from anywhere in the world. Each time the card is used, the customer's bank account is debited directly. It thus eliminates the risk of carrying large amounts of cash.
The card can also be used to draw funds from ATMs. "There is no credit limit sanctioned here. The main requirement is access to a bank deposit," said Chandra Agnihotri, Visa International's country manager for India.
As the use of the debit card would result in a debit to the customer's bank deposit, the holder should have an access to a bank deposits, he said.
Other conditions such as a minimum balance to be maintained as well as service charges, would be decided by the individual banks, Agnihotri said.
The debit cards market was growing at 30 per cent annually compared with the 10 per cent growth in the credit market, Lawson said.Debit products were preferred to credit products particularly in European and Asian countries for personal funds management, he said.
As of June 1998, over 63 million Visa Electron cards were in use in 54 countries, and over eight million point of sale terminals and 4.5 lakh ATMs around the world can accept Visa Electron. In India the acceptance locations will utilise existing infrastructure.
Merchants that already accept Visa will have to place a
Visa Electron decal on their premises.
Visa, in India, is currently accepted at over a lakh of merchant establishments. It has 23 member banks of which HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Hongkong Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank have joined its network of shared ATMs comprising over 200 ATMs.