The Hindu : IDBI Bank launches debit cards

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 16, 2002

Business

Business

IDBI Bank launches debit cards

By Our Corporate Reporter

CHENNAI OCT. 15. The explosive growth in the usage of debit cards in India has enabled IDBI Bank to introduce debit-cum-ATM cards across the country. According to Shameek Bhargava, Head of ATMs and card products, debit cards had witnessed a tremendous growth in the last six months with three million cards in use in the market. By 2005 he expected this number to go up to nine million. The launch of debit card closely followed the recent acquisition by IDBI Bank of the BNP Paribas merchant acquiring business.

Addressing presspersons after launching the debit card, Mr. Shameek said the card would replace the ATM card issued by the bank currently and could be used to withdraw cash at over 245 IDBI Bank ATMs besides 2,500 Visa ATMs in India and over 6.7 lakh ATMs across the world following a strategic tie up with Visa. The bank had already issued 26,000 debit cards in the last ten days and in the next 12 months, the plan was to have seven lakh cards in circulation, he said.

According to J. Venkataramanan, regional head of retail banking (South), the launch of debit card was a part of IDBI's current expansion strategy where it had consistently launched new and innovative products. The southern region had a business volume of Rs. 800 crores and in the next 3-6 months, it was expected to cross Rs. 1,000 crores, he said.

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