Axis Bank on Tuesday launched a new co-branded credit card targeting affluent customers.
The card holders can get a discount of 20 basis points on home loans from the bank with a 50 per cent concession on processing charges.
Further, the card holders will be provided with reward points which can be redeemed with Miles & More’s partners across sectors such as flights, hotels, resorts, car rentals and retail stores among others. Miles & More is a Europe-based international frequent flyer program.
The card is available in two variants —World Select and World — with a joining fee of Rs 10,000 and Rs 3,500 respectively. The annual fee on World Select and World cards is Rs 4,500 and Rs 3,500, respectively.
It combines insurance and travel benefits for international frequent flyers and gets them access to Lufthansa and other member airlines’ programs.
In 2008 the credit card industry was at its peak. However, the slowdown that followed led to de-growth.
Card spends
“Over the past 12 months, customer interest and usage of credit cards has increased with overall card spends in the industry going up by over 30 per cent last year,” said Jairam Sridharan, Head Consumer Lending and Payments, Axis Bank.
Currently, the loan outstanding on Axis Bank’s credit cards is about Rs 1,200 crore, accounting for about 2 per cent of its retail book.
The bank has about 1.1 million credit card customers, while the total outstanding cards in the banking industry stood at 19.5 million as on April 2013.
beena.parmar@thehindu.co.in