Flipkart launches credit card in partnership with Axis Bank, Mastercard; offers unlimited cashback

Flipkart and Axis Bank have partnered to launch an exclusive co-branded credit card by Mastercard. The credit card offers customers unlimited cashback on all spends, online and offline. This partnership is the latest effort from Flipkart, Axis Bank, and Mastercard to improve access to credit and further expand the fast developing credit card ecosystem in India. Earlier this year, Ola and Paytm too launched credit card for their customers. Ola launched Ola Money Credit Card in partnership with SBI Card. Ola is targeting 10 million Ola Money-SBI Credit Cards to be issued by 2022.  Paytm launched a credit card with Citigroup. The Paytm First Card offers 1 percent cash back on all transactions. The credit card ecosystem in India is growing at a fast pace and holds immense promise with regards to penetration and acceptance. While most Indians have accessed some form of informal credit, there are only an estimated 49 million credit cards in circulation. Estimates from CIBIL suggest that while there are some 220 million credit-worthy Indians, a full one-third of them have not yet been tapped by formal financial institutions. Further, only 72 million of this base are considered ‘credit active’, having a live account with a bank or lending body. The Flipkart-Axis Bank Credit Card is designed to cater to both credit-worthy Indians, as well as sections of the population who have not accessed formal credit before. The card will be available for select users in July, with plans to open the program to all customers over the coming weeks.  “Through this co-branded credit card we are reiterating our commitment to driving access to formal credit in India with an offering that will benefit the customer the most,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, CEO of the Flipkart Group. [caption id=“attachment_5020961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Under this program, customers can earn returns on their card spends via cashback that is auto credited every month in the customer’s statement, thereby ensuring that they will be able to see a tangible return on their everyday spends. The companies have partnered with third-party merchants across key categories where customers are likely to use credit cards like MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, Uber, PVR, Gaana, Curefit and Urban Clap. For transactions made on these third-party platforms, customers will receive a 4 percent unlimited cashback. Card holders will also get four complimentary lounge visits across airports in India. The Flipkart-Axis Bank credit card will fetch users 5 percent cashback on all transactions on co-branded merchants such as Flipkart, Myntra and 2GUD. On all other merchants, the cardholder will receive 1.5 percent unlimited cashback. Cardholders can also get a fuel surcharge waiver of 1  percent for up to Rs 500 per month. There will be a 20 percent discount and 1.5 percent cashback available for cardholders to apply at Axis Bank’s partnered restaurants.  Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Axis Bank, said, “We are glad to partner with Flipkart and Mastercard, to further expand credit access and deepen our geographic reach targeting a larger customer segment." Ari Sarker, Co-President, Asia -Pacific, Mastercard, said, “Though 90 percent 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 percent 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."