New Gift Card from American Express

To make the most of this festive season American Express has come up with gift card which will be available in two variants- the Classic and the Diwali Gift Card. Initially the card will be offered to the corporate customers and will be made available to the customers later this year.

The most attractive feature in this card is that no extra charges will be levied on the facilities like balance checking, monthly servicing and in case the card in lost or stolen then it will be replaced for free. This card can be used at any retailer in India and also to make online purchases where American express Cards are accepted.

The Gift Card is available in Rs. 500, Rs. 1000, Rs. 2000 and Rs. 5000 denominations.

Card no more a necessity to make transactions at ATM

People are aware about the ATM and the facilities that they can enjoy through them but in the whole process the role of ATM card is most significant as it is the basic requirement in order to make any transaction through ATM but the Cash-on-Mobile facility of Induslnd bank allows a customer to withdraw money from an ATM without ATM/debit card.

To use this facility a customer first needs to register himself for the service, once registered the user will be issued a four digit MPIN (mobile personal identification number), it is to ensure secure transaction, then the customer has to download the application on his mobile.

To use this application, a customer can visit bank ATM and there he has to choose cash-on-mobile option before that the user has to make a request to the bank to make a transaction and with that he also has to mention the amount that he has to withdraw, the bank will then send a temporary password after that the user will have to generate another password for himself.

Once the user has selected the option to make transaction through cash-on-mobile he will have to enter his mobile number the secret password sent by the bank and the password that the user himself has generated. Not only this even funds can be transferred through this service.

Induslnd Bank to leverage services of Atos Worldline

Leading private sector bank, Induslnd Bank Ltd. has signed a deal with Atos Worldline India. According to the agreement Atos will up MasterCard and VISA (Point of Sale) POS acquiring network for Induslnd Bank. It will also establish a merchant establishment network, so that the merchants can open account with Induslnd Bank.

The Head of consumer banking in Induslnd Bank Sumant Kathpalia said "Our entry into merchant acquiring business is yet another step towards creating a one-stop shop environment for our growing client base. The bank will use this service to drive customer loyalty and cards spend to the next level."

CEO of Atos Worldline India, Mr. Sameer Nemavarkar said "This alliance will definitely enable IndusInd Bank expand their service offerings to merchant customers."

AmEx to partner with domestic players

A well known name in the credit card sector and a leading US based lender American Express is now planning to make the most out of the Indian market. In order to boost its presence in the Indian market it is looking forward to partner with local financial players.

The Chief Executive Officer with American Express Banking Corp, Mr. Shailesh Baidwan said "We are looking at two or three partnerships this year particularly in the eastern region."

Moving along the plan the bank has recently partnered with public sector lender, Indian Overseas Bank and will offer Gold and Platinum cards, the cards will be made available at the braches of the bank in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

Mr. Shailesh Bamidwan also said "We already have a different partnership model... With Kingfisher we offer a co-branded card. But with the partnerships what we look for is to have a strong presence... We are looking at partnerships which will expand our presence (in the country)."

Axis Bank comes up with prepaid card for youth

Leading private sector lender, Axis Bank has come up with a scheme focused on the youth. The bank has christened the scheme as MY MONEY CARD.

The card is bases o0n VISA platform basically aims at the children staying away from their parents. It is a reloadable credit card and can be used by the youth to meet various financial requirements as this card can be used for cash withdrawals from ATMs and also for shopping.

Parents can transfer money to the card and the card is ready for use. Axis Bank through an issue stated that "The MY MONEY CARD is designed to meet the banking/ payment needs of the youth. It is an excellent tool to make today's youth financially responsible by making them aware of their expenses and inculcating a habit of spending wisely. The card also gives parents the opportunity to track their wards' spends and a convenient mode of disbursement of funds."

The Axis Bank President and retail Banking Head Mr. R K Bammi said "Axis Bank is the leader in the prepaid cards business and is currently offering a bouquet of innovative rupee-denominated prepaid cards to customers for different payment needs. Axis Bank is committed to being a total solutions bank and the MY MONEY CARD is another step in that direction".

SBI and Axis bank competing to grab Barclays’ card biz

In a bid to expand their credit card wing, the largest lender in the country, State Bank of India and the leading private sector lender, Axis Bank are in a bid to bag the credit card business of Barclays in India. The deal is believed top get finalized within next one and a half month.

The Managing Director and country head of Barclays Corporate, Mr. Karan Bhagat said “We are evaluating the various options and will choose the route which serves the interest of our stakeholders.”

SBI is overwhelmed by the profit that it has gained in its credit card sections after continuous loss in the previous years. However, both the lenders were also in the race to grab the credit card business of Deutsche Bank in India but had to suffer a major setback when Induslnd Bank went away with the deal.

An analyst from a domestic brokerage firm said “Banks have again become active in the credit card space as growth outlook for the Indian economy is bright. Since Barclays has decided to sell its performing portfolio, it minimizes the default risk. Institutions that bid for Deutsche Bank’s cards business but were not successful would be interested. They may not mind paying a little premium.”

NPCI soon to launch RuPay

National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) is working with full swing to launch a National Competitor to the international card providers lie Visa and MasterCard which will be known as RuPay. The need of a domestic payment gateway was suggested by RBI.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NPCI Mr. A.P. Hota said “Our consultant has just started working. It would review the strategy document that we had prepared internally, and is expected to take six-eight weeks. Much would depend on the timeline that it suggests and discuss with us and we will freeze that. But we would like it to happen as quickly as possible...it should not take more than 18 months for at least the debit and prepaid (cards) to come up.”

NPCI is also working to with global card associations for the global acceptance of RuPay. “We have expressed our intention of building international acceptance of the RuPay card. Obviously, for international acceptance, we need partners who can make it happen. The card associations can do this and it would be quicker this way. We can also talk to different large acquiring companies, but that would be a slow process. We are evaluating which is the right way. Aligning ourselves or working with international card associations would definitely be a simpler route,” said Hota.

NPCI has claimed that on domestic level Rupay can be very effective, the Indian Banks will be more convenient with it as it will definitely be more cost effective for the banks as compared to the International card providers. At present even the domestic transactions are carried out by the payment gateway located outside the country.

“The biggest benefit for banks is this would be cost-effective. Instead of many types of service charges, we would make it very simple. We would also make the dispute management more simple and straight-forward. Banks would have a bigger role in the governance of the (RuPay) scheme --- much more than what they have in international schemes,” said Hota.

Now, online alerts for all CNP transactions

In order to make the make card transaction safer, the Reserve Bank of India has made it compulsory for the banks to send online alerts to all the cardholders for all Card Not Present (CNP) transactions on credit cards.

RBI had to come up with this move following cases of unauthorized fund withdrawals from ATM. Earlier the banks used to send such alerts for all CNP transactions above Rs. 5,000.

In a notification, RBI said “This measure is expected to encourage further usage of cards at various delivery channels.”

Axis Bank comes up with Everywhere Teller Machines

Leading lender in the country Axis Bank has come up with a new scheme “Everywhere Teller Machines” (ETM) that will allow an account holder to withdraw money from swiping machines available at the shops.

An official from the bank said "Generally, card swiping is done to make a purchase at a shopkeeper's end. ETM is the reverse wherein a customer can withdraw money at the shop."

The bank has already launched this scheme in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and plans to expand it across the country very soon.

For a single ETM transaction the customer will be levied with Rs 10 only.

Post Offices might soon host for ATMs

Besides catering the people with a wide range of services, the prestigious Indian Post might get yet another role to play. The Government is seriously considering the proposal of installing ATMs at the Post Offices in the rural area.

Indian Post is already associated with some government agencies and has been providing major services in payment process for various government schemes.

A senior official with ministry of communication and technology said "Central, state and local governments are increasingly preferring government benefit payments to be routed through banks rather than using postal services. We need to innovate so as to continue to play dominant role in financial inclusion."

It is yet another move from the authorities to strengthen the Financial Inclusion Plan. Installation of ATMs at Post Offices will offer greater accessibility of banking services for the rural population.

First Indian Travel Card from Axis Bank

Axis Bank recently launched India Travel Card. It is a service from the bank that is meant to benefit the foreign travelers in India. This service is aimed at providing a solution to the currency exchange problem for the foreign travelers.

The card will be made available at more than 190 Axis Bank branches in next few months. A customer can exchange foreign currency at selected Axis Bank branch or selected money changers and get a Travel Card loaded with equivalent amount in Rupees. The customer can shop at more than 4.7 lakh merchant outlets throughout the country through this prepaid card.

The customer will also be able to use any time banking service as through this card the customer will be able to make transaction from over 44,000 ATMs across the country. The maximum upper limit of the card is Rs 50,000 and the user can reload the card from selected branches within six months from the date of first credit.

This card might prove very useful for the foreigners as it will drastically reduce the necessity to carry hard cash and dependence on travelers’ cheques etc.

First Indian Travel Card from Axis Bank

Axis Bank recently launched India Travel Card. It is a service from the bank that is meant to benefit the foreign travelers in India. This service is aimed at providing a solution to the currency exchange problem for the foreign travelers.

The card will be made available at more than 190 Axis Bank branches in next few months. A customer can exchange foreign currency at selected Axis Bank branch or selected money changers and get a Travel Card loaded with equivalent amount in Rupees. The customer can shop at more than 4.7 lakh merchant outlets throughout the country through this prepaid card.

The customer will also be able to use any time banking service as through this card the customer will be able to make transaction from over 44,000 ATMs across the country. The maximum upper limit of the card is Rs 50,000 and the user can reload the card from selected branches within six months from the date of first credit.

This card might prove very useful for the foreigners as it will drastically reduce the necessity to carry hard cash and dependence on travelers’ cheques etc.

First Indian Travel Card from Axis Bank

Axis Bank recently launched India Travel Card. It is a service from the bank that is meant to benefit the foreign travelers in India. This service is aimed at providing a solution to the currency exchange problem for the foreign travelers.

The card will be made available at more than 190 Axis Bank branches in next few months. A customer can exchange foreign currency at selected Axis Bank branch or selected money changers and get a Travel Card loaded with equivalent amount in Rupees. The customer can shop at more than 4.7 lakh merchant outlets throughout the country through this prepaid card.

The customer will also be able to use any time banking service as through this card the customer will be able to make transaction from over 44,000 ATMs across the country. The maximum upper limit of the card is Rs 50,000 and the user can reload the card from selected branches within six months from the date of first credit.

This card might prove very useful for the foreigners as it will drastically reduce the necessity to carry hard cash and dependence on travelers’ cheques etc.

Extra security for transactions over phone

To make the transactions from credit card over phone safer, the Reserve Bank of India has added another security layer to the credit card transactions. From now on the customer who needs to make transaction over phone will require a one time password generated by their respective bank.

Initially the directive was schedule to be effective from 1^st January but some banks asked for more time to bring the adequate changes to their systems and so the Central Bank decided February 1 as the new deadline.

According to the revised norms a customer will require to tally 5 set of numbers that includes -- the 16-digit card number, card expiry date, CVV (Card Verification Value, which is printed on the back of the card) number, mobile number and the OTP to carry out credit card transaction over phone.

The One Time Password will be effective for a period of two hours and the customer will need a separate OTP each time he makes a transaction over phone. For the purpose it is mandatory that the phone number of the customer is registered with the bank.

Earlier the Reserve Bank introduced similar security level to the internet banking transactions also.

Gift card facility launched by Dhanlaxmi Bank

To provide a wider spectrum of products and services to the customers, Kerala Based Dhanlaxmi Bank has launched gift card for the customers of the bank. Earlier State Bank of India has also launched a similar service to cater customers.

The gift card launched by Dhanlaxmi Bank can be used at 4.5 lac merchant outlets. The card has a upper limit of Rs 50,000 and a minimum of Rs 500 .

Head of Dhanlaxmi Bank "The launch of the gift card will further strengthen our product suite tailored to meet diverse customer needs" .

The bank consists of 275 banks and 454 ATMs spread across 14 states in the country . Other then that the bank also revised the deposit rates a few weeks ago.