HDFC Bank intends to offer one million credit cards this year. As of November-end 2013, the bank had a base of 5.12 million cards – about a third of the total credit cards in the country. Parag Rao, senior executive vice-prsident and business head (Card Payment Products and Merchant Acquiring Services) of the bank said the bank will leverage its strong distribution network and liability base to expand its cards portfolio. It is seeing incremental growth of 75,000-80,000 cards every month and plans to add a million new cards in the next 12 months, he added. While many banks stayed away from unsecured lending in an uncertain macroeconomic environment, HDFC Bank had been growing its credit card base consistently for about two years, on a month-on-month basis. According to Reserve Bank of India data, HDFC Bank’s credit cards outstanding declined for three consecutive months in June, July and August, 2013. Rao said this has been on account of portfolio restructuring. Currently, the bank’s credit card book stands at about Rs 12,000 crore.
