SBI Card launches online application service 'Click2Card'

New Delhi, August 28:  SBI Card today launched online application service and aims to acquire about 3,000 customers through this initiative in next four months.  "Click2Card is another innovative service offering and is in line with our digital roadmap. This new platform will offer significant customer benefits, the primary being convenience," SBI Cards & Payment Services CEO Kadambi Narahari said here.
The company, which is the country's second largest credit card issuer and promoted by State Bank of India and GE Capital, aims to acquire 3,000 customers via online mode by December this year. The company, which has issued about 23 lakh cards aim to open 25,000 accounts next year through online mode, he said.
Last year, the company opened 4 lakh accounts through all distribution channels, he said, adding, SBI Card intends to add 5.6 lakh card in the current fiscal. Targeted at the Internet-savvy customers across India, who are increasingly transacting on the Internet, Narahari said, Click2Card allows customers to enter their details on a specially designed secure web interface.
The customer's application for a credit card is approved, declined or referred on the basis of the credit history with the credit bureau and the SBI Card risk and policy norms, he said. The customer has a real-time experience, and is updated on the status of his or her request instantly, he said, adding that for all approved or referred applications, the system sends back a soft approval (approval in principle) and the assigned credit limit. Subsequently, the customer is contacted by SBI Cards representatives to complete the documentation requirement. The documents and the information provided on the online platform need to match with those provided to the representative.

SBI Cards targets 1 million new customers by 2014-15

SBI Cards, the second largest credit card solutions provider in India after HDFC Bank, is targeting to add one million new
customers by 2014-15, Mr Kadambi Narahari, CEO, said on Thursday.
Between 2007 and 2010, the number of credit card holders in India fell from 27 million to 17 million. Even after this consolidation in the wake of global slowdown, when many credit card companies went out of business, penetration of credit cards in India is still low — as against China and Brazil accounting for 200 million cards each, India accounts for only 18.4 million credit card holders, he told presspersons here.
SBI Cards have a customer base of 2.3 million. HDFC currently issues about 80,000 credit cards per month while SBI Cards issues about 50,000.
On an average, an Indian credit card holder spends only $755 (Rs 40,000) annually, as against the Australians ($3,352), and even the Thais ($2,084).
With its expansion in Tier II and III towns and cities becoming profitable with 12 per cent of cards reaching there, SBI Cards is now banking on the spread of the Internet to 121 million customers and grow its business by three to four times by 2014-15. India currently has 80 million banked households, he said.
Ticket booking and similar instant payment facilities have boosted the business of SBI Card, particularly after its tie up with the Indian Railways and other agencies and co-branding cards with the Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Maharashtra and the Karur Vysya Bank.
Credit card spend in India is expected to increase from Rs 96,000 crore in 2011 to Rs 120 crore this year. SBI Cards and Payment Services Pvt Ltd, a joint venture with GE Capital, is the only standalone credit card providing company in India. It offers 14 different modes of payment options to customers.