MUMBAI: SBI Card, the second largest in the country Map Issuer, will soon integrate its RuPay credit cards into the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) network. The move is likely to be disruptive given that SBI Card is the largest RuPay card issuer in the country – nearly 11% of its portfolio is made up of RuPay cards.
Talking to TOI on the 25th anniversary of the launch of the SBI Card from State Bank of IndiaManaging Director and CEO of the card issuer Ram Mohan Rao Amara said the integration of the bank’s RuPay credit cards and the UPI platform will be completed soon. “We are the largest RuPay credit card issuer, including our co-branded cards with IRCTC and BPCL,” Amara said.
“We strongly believe that the incremental revenue from major credit card spend at UPI will outweigh the revenue lost from small transactions,” Rao said. He said the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has stated that the merchant fee exemption only applies to transactions below Rs.2,000. Again, if the trader has a turnover of 20 lakh rupees and the transactions with larger traders and for higher values generate fee income.
Currently, in merchant transactions, customers typically use UPI for low-value payments and credit cards for high-value payments. Those trends could change with the integration of credit cards with UPI, Amara said.
Amara said his company’s growth has surpassed that of the industry during this period. “The industry has grown at an 18% CAGR, reaching a card base of 8.5 crore. We got 1.7 crore cards with a faster clip of 22% CAGR. We’ve also increased spending by 28% compared to 26% in industry,” said Amara. He said the company expects to attract more clients from the State Bank of India as analytics develops in card issuance. “If we take out the Jan Dhan and minimum balance customers, the addressable size of the market among SBI account holders would be 15-20 crore. “He said bank customers’ share of card issuance will improve due to a prequalification process that allows onboarding of SBI customers based on their consent.”
Amara said the company lost some spending market share as others increased their corporate credit card spending more. However, this segment’s contribution to earnings was lower because the profits are passed on to the companies. According to Amara, SBI Card’s focus on premium cards has been confirmed as the number of inactive cards that had to be sorted out was far lower than in the industry.
Talking to TOI on the 25th anniversary of the launch of the SBI Card from State Bank of IndiaManaging Director and CEO of the card issuer Ram Mohan Rao Amara said the integration of the bank’s RuPay credit cards and the UPI platform will be completed soon. “We are the largest RuPay credit card issuer, including our co-branded cards with IRCTC and BPCL,” Amara said.
“We strongly believe that the incremental revenue from major credit card spend at UPI will outweigh the revenue lost from small transactions,” Rao said. He said the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has stated that the merchant fee exemption only applies to transactions below Rs.2,000. Again, if the trader has a turnover of 20 lakh rupees and the transactions with larger traders and for higher values generate fee income.
Currently, in merchant transactions, customers typically use UPI for low-value payments and credit cards for high-value payments. Those trends could change with the integration of credit cards with UPI, Amara said.
Amara said his company’s growth has surpassed that of the industry during this period. “The industry has grown at an 18% CAGR, reaching a card base of 8.5 crore. We got 1.7 crore cards with a faster clip of 22% CAGR. We’ve also increased spending by 28% compared to 26% in industry,” said Amara. He said the company expects to attract more clients from the State Bank of India as analytics develops in card issuance. “If we take out the Jan Dhan and minimum balance customers, the addressable size of the market among SBI account holders would be 15-20 crore. “He said bank customers’ share of card issuance will improve due to a prequalification process that allows onboarding of SBI customers based on their consent.”
Amara said the company lost some spending market share as others increased their corporate credit card spending more. However, this segment’s contribution to earnings was lower because the profits are passed on to the companies. According to Amara, SBI Card’s focus on premium cards has been confirmed as the number of inactive cards that had to be sorted out was far lower than in the industry.
