Credit Card Market Share of Public Sector Banks Improved
Credit cards appear to have found favour with public sector banks, which had, so far, been disinclined in expanding their unsecured loan portfolios aggressively.
by April-end, government-owned banks improved their market share in the credit card business to 17.4 %, against 16.2 % in the year-ago period. While the credit card base of PSB Banks like State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank grew appreciably.
At the end of April, SBI had a card base of 2.25 million, or 8 % more compared to a year earlier. The bank offers credit cards through SBI Cards, its venture with GE Capital. SBI Cards is currently the fourth-largest credit card issuer in the country and the largest among public sector banks.
PNB credit card base expanded like a fastest among large banks. Cards with the bank rose 27 % to 1, 03,712 at the end of April.
On the other side, Private Banks reduce their card bases. ICICI Bank continues to get smaller its credit card base. ICICI Credit Card narrowed its card portfolio from 3.36 million to 2.83 million. HSBC’s Credit cards base minimize nearly a third to 613,877 cards.
Card base of public sector banks expanded 7.4 % year-on-year to 3.09 million at the end of April, while credit cards with private and foreign banks together declined 1.5 % year-on-year to 14.7 million.
HDFC Bank Credit Card, which accounts for the largest credit card base (5.65 million), added 5,50,000 cards, expanding its base by about 11 %. In the past year, the bank announced a slew of initiatives, including the no-limit card ‘Infinia’ card, to augment its card base.
Some foreign and private lenders took the inorganic route to enter into, or expand, credit cards businesses. IndusInd Bank acquired Deutsche Bank’s card portfolio to enter the market, while Standard Chartered Bank bought Barclays’ card business in India to expand its portfolio.
However, with major players like ICICI Bank and HSBC refraining from growing their card business, the aggregate market share of private and foreign lenders in this segment failed to rise.
As of April-end, the number of outstanding credit cards in India stood at 17.77 million.
