Banks seem to be again putting foot forward towards the unsecured lending segment again, however treading carefully this time.

"The quality of our cards' portfolio has improved tremendously. The credit information infrastructure is significantly superior now than five years ago. Banks have learnt their lessons from the past crisis and are lending more rationally," Jairam Sridharan, head of consumer lending and payments at Axis Bank said.

Citibank is also moving gradually towards this segment again and so is the largest private sector lender of the country, ICICI Bank.

"We are very selectively offering these products, mostly to clients with a long-standing relationship," said Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank.

HDFC Bank is moving outside its present client base while distributing cards this time.

"As we go to super-premium clients, we will look more for external customers. This will also help us to acquire these customers for other businesses. The quality of the incremental business in our unsecured loans is, in fact, superior to the existing portfolio," Pralay Mondal, country head, retail assets and credit cards said.