RBI may be more open to granting credit card licences to NBFCs: Macquarie

RBI also made it clear that NBFCs will have to take prior approval from the RBI for issuing credit cards to their customers.

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) tightening co-branded cards issuance framework by disallowing sharing of transaction data by issuing entities with their co-branded partners, it might be more open to granting licenses to various large players and non-banks like Bajaj Finance thereby increasing competition in the segment, said Macquarie Research in a note on Friday.

In its master direction, the RBI said, “The co-branding partner shall not have access to information relating to transactions undertaken through the co-branded card”.

“The role of the co-branding partner entity under the tie-up arrangement shall be limited to marketing/distribution of the cards and