Flipkart, India’s leading retail giant, owned by Walmart, has ventured into the credit card market after it announced partnership with Axis Bank to launch a co-branded credit card, powered by Mastercard‘s payments architecture.
Flipkart said the credit card offers customers benefits such as unlimited cashback and discounts on all spends, online and offline.
The company claims that the credit card would improve access to credit for some of its customers, who may not be able to get loans or credit cards from traditional banks.
To begin with, the credit card will be available for select users this month. The company plans to open the programme to all customers over the coming weeks.
Flipkart, owned by Walmart, is based out of Bengaluru, founded by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal together in 2007. The company initially focused on book sales, before expanding into other product categories such as consumer electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products.
Kalyan Krishnamurthy, Group CEO of Flipkart, said the company is committed to driving access to formal credit among the underserved customers in India.
The Flipkart-Axis Bank Credit Card will also offer customers extra savings on all EMI spends on the Flipkart platform.
Ari Sarker, co-president, Asia -Pacific, Mastercard, said, “Though 90% of transactions in India are still processed in cash, we are seeing a sizable and undeniable shift towards digital payments. This has been spurred by the booming popularity of online shopping and e-commerce – which now account for over 40% of all digital payments in India – and are poised to grow even further in line with the Government of India’s efforts to drive digital adoption across the ecosystem.”
Interestingly, with this credit card, Flipkart joins the league of tech companies such as Amazon, Paytm and Ola in launching credit cards in partnership with Visa and Mastercard.
In India, the credit card market is dominated by the salaried class and is largely used by those in the 30+ age group. However, tech companies are going after younger users, who form the bulk of their user base as well.
Currently, the credit card market in India is dominated by HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Citibank. In February 2019, a total of 46.1 Mn credit cards were in operation in India, with nearly 9.13 Mn credit cards and 89.11 Mn debit cards added in one year.