Prasad had started his banking career in 1992 with Citibank India. Since then, Prasad has handled various positions in credit policy, sales, collections and business development in the cards and consumer finance businesses. Prasad joined Standard Chartered Bank in April 2005 as Senior Risk Manager for Credit Cards and Personal Loans for India. Standard Chartered today has 90 branches in 33 cities in the country and has a combined customer-base of around 21 lakh.

With the increase in the income earning in India, the credit card base in India has expanded in the past few years as banks have turned aggressive and the plastic culture spread among individuals. Plastic money has replaced the actual usage of money to a great extend. This is the main reason that StanChart has targeted this segment.

Recent figures have put the total outstanding in India at over Rs 19,000 crore. According to Reserve Bank of India data, there are 2.6 crore credit card users in India with ICICI Bank being the market leader in the credit card segment.

It’s not that credit card companies do not provide with any insurance cover. They do offer insurance, but it is in the form of a “credit shield” where part of an individual’s outstanding is paid if the cardholder dies or is permanently disabled. No insurance cover till date covers a credit card loss and fraud. Hence, this move is of penultimate importance to the 2.6 crore credit card users in India.