Bank of Maharashtra and SBI Cards launch credit card

Pune .The Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra and SBI Cards have launched the co-branded SBI-Bank of Maharashtra Card credit card for the bank's customers. The card is available in two variants, platinum and gold. A.S.Bhattacharya, CMD, Bank of Maharashtra and Diwakar Gupta, MD and CFO, State Bank of India , launched the card in Pune.

The credit card industry had gone into huge losses in the recent downturn, forcing card issuers to relook at its offering. "The industry, in its exuberance, had gone in for runaway carding before the downturn," Mr Gupta said. "The industry needs to learn from the experience and price its risk accordingly."

He stated that industry should no longer issue free cards and advocated Bank of Maharashtra to issue these cards at a cost to the customers. Mr Gupta said, "This will ensure that only those who need the card with take it and the card will the used," Mr Bhattacharya said that the bank was expecting to issue five lakh cards by 31 December 2011.

Bank of Maharashtra is a public sector bank and also the lead bank for Maharashtra. SBI Cards is a joint venture between SBI and GE Capital, and the only NBFC to issue cards.

Source: EconomicTimes