UK-based Barclays, after losing its bid to take over ABN AMRO, which would have facilitated expansion of its operations in India, has remained bullish about its India plans. The bank has already opened its branches in four cities in the country and was looking for opening more branches in near future.
Talking to the media on the occasion of launch of Yatra Barclaycard, the India head of cards of the bank, Kusal Roy, said, ?We have already opened four of our branches in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Neelamangalam near Bangalore and Kanchipuram near Chennai during the current year so far. Also we have plans to open few more branches in the country in future subject to regulatory approval, said Roy without disclosing how many branches his bank has applied for.”
After the launch of the co-branded credit card, the bank has projected a target of bringing 1,50,000 new customers on its fold. Talking about the credit card business in the country, Roy said that there are 25 million credit card holders in the country right now which may go up to 40 million within a period of one year from now as the population of working young people was fast on the rise in the country.
Still, he rued over the fact that the penetration of credit card was quite low in the country compared to other Asian countries.
Launched in the Barclays? partnership with the online travel services company, Yatra Online, the Yatra Barclaycard is specially designed for Indian travelers and offers wide global acceptability, flexibility on credit limits and billing dates. Roy said that his bank was looking at the launch of more co-branded credit cards in the country.