HDFC Bank to issue 2m hybrid cards

Mumbai: HDFC Bank has said that it will issue two million debit, credit and prepaid cards under its

millennial

series in five years and double the number in 10 years. These cards can be used physically or be virtualised inside the

PayZapp

application like the Apple credit card and will have all the benefits of various specialised cards collapsed into a single card.

HDFC Bank’s decision to come out with a hybrid physical and digital product comes at a time when the country’s largest lender SBI said that it wants to replace physical cards with a digital app. Speaking to TOI,

Parag Rao

, head (cards) at HDFC Bank, said that the private lender was building a card management module inside its mobile app. Using the virtual card in PayZapp will entitle the customer to all the benefits that are available for transacting through the app.

HDFC Bank is the largest issuer of debit cards in the country with 1.26 crore cards as against SBI’s 87 lakh cardholders. Unlike SBI, whose credit cards are issued by a subsidiary, HDFC Bank’s credit cards are issued in-house. A large chunk of its cards are issued to their own customers. According to Rao, issuing debit and prepaid cards for new customers will give the bank the ability to find the creditworthiness of these customers and upgrade them to a credit card in future.

According to Rao, HDFC Bank’s research has shown that contrary to popular belief, millennials are financially prudent and understand the value of money. A significant number of them use debit cards and UPI for payments, which shows that they are conscious that card transactions have to be paid in time. They are also conscious about their credit scores. “What is missing is that they do not have anyone helping them out when they move across life stages. The second aspect of this millennial persona is that they are aspirational and want to live in the moment”, Rao said.

The millennial cards were an attempt to address these two needs of the customer, Rao said. HDFC Bank is offering a range of products including debit, credit, pre-paid and an EMI card to this segment, which allows customers to make purchases in instalments. “These four products will spawn other such products as millennial deposit accounts, entry level advisory, demat/security products. By allowing these cards to be virtualised in PayZapp, we are giving the customers exactly what they want and get from startups,” he said.

These cards are being issued in partnership with Mastercard and like in digital wallets, customers can apply for these cards online as well as through branches and agents.


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