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.”
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