"The tie-up seeks to address the need of Indian banks and their customers for a credit that provides convinience, adequate credit limit and superior as well as reliable service delivery," Stanchart card services head Harpal Duggal said.

"Indian banks have the choice of availing the services of the tie-up or having a customised arrangement with either of us," he added.

Local credit card-issuing banks will benefit through this co-branding arrangement from Stanchart's experience in credit appraisal, customer service, marketing and branding. The card issuer would also have the advantage of Equifax Venture Infotek Payment Services -- a joint venture between Equifax Inc of the US and Venture Infotek of India -- expertise in technology in credit card databases and operations.

"Stanchart's credit card operations have seen oneof the fastest growth among card issuers. Equifax's efficient and productive cardholder and issuing support will help Stanchart partner with other local banks to focus on extending the cardholder base to smaller towns across the country," EquiFax Venture Infotek chairman Dhruv Khaitan said.