Samsung launches credit card in partnership with Axis Bank

Electronics major Samsung has forayed into the card payments space by partnering with Axis Bank to launch Samsung-Axis Bank credit cards. These credit cards will be powered by Visa. With this, Samsung aims to make the purchase of its products and services affordable to its consumers by providing 10% cashback. Customers will be able to use the credit cards for both EMI and non-EMI transactions.

Ken Kang, president and CEO, Samsung South-West Asia, says the Samsung Axis Bank Credit Card, powered by Visa, is the company's next big India-specific innovation. "(It) will change the way our customers buy Samsung products and spend on services through a series of industry-leading features."

The development comes as domestic credit card spending has witnessed a sharp surge over the past few months. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, the domestic credit card user base increased at the fastest pace in 23 months in March this year at 1.9 million credit cards added during the month. Moreover, credit card spending touched an all-time high of ₹1.16 lakh crore in July this year, adding a 54% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase.

As of July 2022, Axis Bank has the fourth largest market share in credit card spending of 8.7%, after HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI Card, which have 28.34%, 20.1% and 16.7% market shares, respectively. With this launch, Axis Bank is aiming to penetrate into tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

Amitabh Chaudhary, MD and CEO, Axis Bank said the bank aims to tap the wide reach of Samsung India that extends beyond tier 1 cities and aids its objective of card penetration into tier 2 & 3 cities.

Earlier this year, the RBI had lifted restrictions imposed on American Express and MasterCard for onboarding new customers. In order to boost the domestic credit card market, the apex bank extended the limit on recurring payments from ₹5,000 to ₹15,000 to facilitate larger transactions. The RBI has also proposed linking credit cards to the Unified Payment Interface (UPI), starting with RuPay credit cards, in a bid to provide more avenues to customers while making UPI transactions.