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SBI to distribute credit cards from bank branches
To take on competition from private and foreign banks head on, SBI Card is firming up plans to distribute credit cards from the State Bank of India's branches from June.
To take on competition from private and foreign banks head on, SBI Card is firming up plans to distribute credit cards from the State Bank of India's branches from June.
"We are working closely with State Bank of India to leverage the branch channel for increasing the company's reach and expand customer base substantially," SBI Card Chief Marketing Officer Nirupam Sahay told PTI.
The company is a joint venture between between State Bank of India and GE Money.
Currently, the company is operating from its own outlets and the tie up would offer huge business growth potential for the company, he said.
A host of SBI branches are being identified for issuance of credit cards and the initiative would be operational by June, he said.
The company is also planning to launch new products specifically for the SBI Branch channel.
Besides, offering all existing products, SBI Card would also design specialised products for the bank customers, he said.
The country's largest public sector lender SBI with over 1 crore customer base has 10,000 branches across the nation.
The company, which is into the plastic money business since 1998 has a customer base of 3.3 million customers and has a market share of about 12 per cent as on January 2008.
As per the latest Reserve Bank report there are about 26.6 million credit card customers in the country.
For the nine month ended December 2007, the company's net non-performing asset stood at 2.92 per cent, while loss during the period was to the tune of Rs 123 crore.
During the same period, its top line rose by Rs 134 crore over the nine months of previous year, up 21 per cent.
