HDFC (Housing Development and Finance Corporation) Bank, one of the largest private sector banks in India, has voiced intentions to substantially expand its credit card customer base over the next year. With a view to increasing its share of the plastic money business, HDFC Bank plans to double the number of cards it issues every month to reach a figure of about 4 lakh new card issues every month.
According to sources at HDFC Bank, the bank issues at present an estimated 2 lakh cards a month across all of its credit card offerings. As per data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), HDFC Bank has emerged as the largest issuer of credit cards with 6.28 million active cards as of December 2015. The card issuer’s rival, ICICI Bank, came a distant second with 3.5 million cards. Other leading card issuers in India were Citibank, SBI Cards and Axis Bank as per the same report.
As part of its push towards issuing even more cards, HDFC Bank is expected to focus more on semi-urban and rural areas. The bank is expected to benefit from the cross selling opportunities in such areas as many of the bank’s customers in those areas have gold, crop and agri loans. The other segment that HDFC Bank intends to tap for expansion of its credit card business includes salaried individuals who do not currently have a credit card.