New Delhi: Credit card company SBI Cards, a joint venture between India's largest lender State Bank of India and GE Capital -- the financial services unit of General Electric, plans to add 1 million credit cards to its portfolio by 2015, Chief Executive Officer Kadambi Narahari said.
"We (SBI Cards) have identified potential centres for growth which are beyond the tier I cities...We expect the average increase in spends (credit card spends) to be 25-30% this year (2011-12)," he said.
Moreover, the credit card company expects around 20% growth to come from tier 2 and tier 3 cities by 2015, Narahari added.
Tier 2 centres are towns having a population ranging between 50,000 and 99,999, as per Census 2001, while tier 1 centres are towns with a population of 100,000 and above.
SBI Cards is also planning to shortly introduce a premium card aimed at high net worth individuals, the company's CEO said.
Earlier April, the State Bank of India's subsidiary, SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt Ltd, had introduced a holiday-cum-shopping credit card in collaboration with online travel services provider Yatra.com.
As per a Reserve Bank of India data, credit card spends rose about 28% in the last fiscal 2011-12.
State Bank of India has over 13,700 branches across the country and 170 overseas offices in 34 countries.
Copyright Contify.com
