The Aditya Birla group has allied with SBI cards to come out with co-branded cards. The group plans to launch these cards in the next four to six weeks.

According to Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive, Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group The tie-up would include group companies and aim at bolstering financial services through this partnership.

Co-branded cards are credit cards associated with a specific firm like airlines or retail outlet. They offer benefits like frequent travel and special discounts.

Srinivasan said that the move aimed at reaching 60 million retail customers served by group companies such as Idea Cellular and other retail businesses. The group has a huge customer base in financial services - insurance and asset management, telecom.

SBI Cards official said that it had a customer base of 3 million. In the medium term, it would like to cover one million Birla Group customers. Co-branded cards account for 20-30 per cent of its card business.

SBI Cards is a 60:40 joint venture between State Bank of India and GE Capital.

Earlier this month, SBI cards launched an option for its customers to pay their credit card dues using SBI debit card. A press release said that with this SBI card holders will have 13 different optins to choose from to pay their dues.