Public sector lender Indian Bank has come up with yet another new offering in the debit card segment. The latest launch by the bank happens to be a platinum master debit card.

CMD of the bank , Mr TM Bhasin quoted that card is a step ahead from the previous cards of the bank in terms of features.

The cash withdrawal limit in the card has been set as Rs 50,000 per day as against the...

The month of August has witnessed a 29.1% rise in transactions carried out using credit cards in comparison with the figures for the same month in the fiscal prior to this.

While the total transactions for August 2011 stand at Rs 8,078.98 crore, the amount was Rs Rs 6,259.42 crore in August 2010.

Although transactions using these cards are again on a rise, the number of cards in circulation has seen a dip.

On the contrary, debit...

Public sector lender Andhra Bank has come up with two new variants to offer in the field of plastic money. While one of the cards is a prepaid gift card, the other is an international travel card.

The international travel card has been launched in terms of US dollars and will be available in various denominations.

The prepaid gift card can be availed in denominations ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 50,000.

However for cards having amount...

Banks are in constant endeavor to implement advancements in technology to the utmost level in banking operations. As a step to implement mobile banking technology in terms of Kisan credit card, regional rural lender, Pallavan Grama Bank has intiated the process on a pilot basis.

The project is receiving funds worth Rs 44.66 lakh from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

According to CMD of Indian Bank, Mr TM Bhasin, this pilot project is...

ATMs till now in India had been assigned the major task of cash withdrawal only. But soon two in one ATMs are going to take space in the banking arena which would facilitate both withdrawal as well as deposit of cash in them.

Proactive lenders like State Bank of India and Axis Bank have already started working in this direction to actually bring these deposit ATMs into play. The two lenders have tied up...

Common ATMs not belonging to any particular bank and owned and operated by non banking companies are likely to get an entry into the ATM banking space soon. With finance ministry's advice coming all the way to Reserve Bank of India regarding setting up of these common or White Label ATMs in a bid to reduce transaction costs of banks, the process to set up such ATMs is likely to be coming up in...

Private sector lender Dhanlaxmi Bank has come up with a new prepaid forex card to benefit customers travelling abroad.

The card is foreign currency dominated and can be reloaded as per requirement by the customer in US dollars, Euro or Pound Sterling.

The card is partnered with VISA and thus can be used at any of the VISA enabled POS terminals as well as ATMs all over the world.

Transactions using the card can be done without...

Leading credit card provider American Express has introduced a gift card for its customers thus marking the onset of the festival season in the country.

The card named The American Express Gift Card will be offered to customers in two variants- classic gift card and diwali gift card. It will come in denominations of Rs 500, Rs 1000, Rs 2000 and Rs 5000.

The cards would not have any kind of fees entailed to them...

Debit card transactions have for the first time this year taken lead over their competitive peer, credit cards, says report released by regulator Reserve Bank of India.

Such results have been seen for the first time this year in the month of July. The difference with which debit cards have taken over credit cards is a staggering figure of more than a million.

Banks have affirmed the facts and commented that increasing numbers of debit cards...

Private sector lender Federal Bank is aiming to make an entry into the credit card business of India as a step to expand its reach and presence in the Indian banking domain.

To begin with, the bank plans only to market the cards while the backend mechanism of the card would be outsourced.

Commenting on the aims of the bank, executive director of the bank, Mr Abraham Chacko said, "We have sensed a need to...

Foreign lender HSBC's Indian operations is aiming to revamp the unsecured loan business again. The bank is aiming to reinitialise the growth mechanism of its credit card portfolio, informed the chief executive of the bank for Indian operations.

The global economic meltdown and its impact had led banks to become very conservative in their lending decisions thus leading to a huge recoil in the unsecured lending business.

But with the scenario improving now, banks are again...

Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank is aiming to give a big boost to its credit card business in India in the coming year.

The bank has already started working in this field with the first step taken being online approval of credit cards, informed Mr Shymal Saxena, General Manager-Retail Banking Products, India and South Asia.

The online mechanism allows approval in just 30 seconds after the customer gives in the details of the card.

"We are...

ATM manufacturer NCR Corporation has come up with a new mobile banking solution called NCR Aptra in order to promote the use of mobile banking by customers.

The new platform will facilitate banks in promoting their services through mobile phones with the usage of downloadable apps, mobile browsers or by the SMS mode.

"Smart phone growth and financial inclusion are driving mobile banking adoption on a global scale," said NCR Corporation India Managing Director Jaivinder Gill.

"Our new...

Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank has also joined the raxe to acquire the Indian credit card business of Barclays. Infact, the bank seems to be the leader in the race.

SBI cards is also in the race for getting the deal in its favor.

"As of now, Standard Chartered leads the race. But one cannot be certain whether it would finally buy this portfolio. There is many a slip between the cup and the lip,"...

Public sector lender Oriental Bank of Commerce has made an entry into the credit card segment of the country by way of partnering with SBI Cards.

The cards, thus of co-branded nature will reach out to customers in Diwali time through branches of OBC.

The cards will have both magnetic stripe as well as chip based nature.

The latest technology being adopted will overcome the barrier of the bank being a late entrant into the...

Credit card transactions in India have seen a 28.4% rise in the month of July for this fiscal as compared to the figures acquired for the same period in a fiscal prior to this.

The month saw transactions worth Rs 7471.76 crore being carried out using credit cards.

However there has been a dip in the number of cards in circulation by more than 6.7% to as much as 1.76 crore as of July 31,...

Public sector lenders are being asked by the government to work on the concept of joint sourcing of ATMs in order to carry forward the aim of attaining total financial inclusion in the country. The ideal of joint sourcing of ATMs at state/district level has been placed by the finance ministry.

Through joint sourcing, economies of scale can be attained thereby bringing significant reduction on costs.

Growth of ATMs is still low in rural areas and lower...

Foreign lender Citibank has announced the appointment of Muge Yuzuak as head of its cards business in India. The announcement was made by the Global Consumer Group of Citi.

Muge will take seat from Sandeep Bhalla who has been relocated to look after the retail banking operations of the lender.

"We have a strong and industry leading cards business that has set the benchmark here. Muge has the ideal mix of developed and emerging markets experience...

Private sector lender ICICI Bank has made its entry into the chip based credit card segment with its new launch, the ICICI Bank Coral Credit Card.

The bank has announced its entry in to the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) Standard with this launch.

Chip based cards bring additional security to the card against the increasing phishing scams. The new card by the lender will thus offer security by way that it contains...

Monetary transactions by means of an instrument called ‘cheque' have been in practice since a long time now. With the advent of electronic payment systems, there have been many mode of payments made available to the customer. But payment through cheques still continues to be a major mode of transaction for most people.

Fraudulent cases by hackers and spammers are on a rapid rise these days and cheque frauds lag no behind. Particularly because of the...