SBI Card, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank shares stage mixed moves as RBI seeks to give customers choice of card network

SBI Card, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and other stocks from the banking and financial services basket staged mixed moves on Thursday, a day after the RBI asked banks and non-banking financial companies to issue credit, debit and prepaid cards on multiple networks to give customers the freedom to choose.

Stocks of card issuers were a mixed bag in early deals on Dalal Street. | Image: Pixabay

SBI Card, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and other stocks from the banking and financial services basket staged mixed moves on Thursday, a day after a draft circular by the RBI asked banks and non-banking financial companies to issue credit, debit and prepaid cards on multiple networks to give customers the freedom to choose. While ICICI Bank and Axis Bank gained around half a per cent in early deals on BSE, SBI Card, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance delined up to one per cent.

"On a review, it is observed that arrangements existing between card networks and card issuers (banks and non-banks) are not conducive to the availability of choice for customers," the central bank said in the circular, seeking comments till August 4.

Card issuers should issue them across more than one network, the RBI said. The circular also mentioned that card issuers will be restricted from entering any agreement with card networks that restrain them from availing the services of other card networks.

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Currently, payments networks such as American Express (Amex), Mastercard, Visa and RuPay cater to customers in India through tie-ups with banks and NBFCs for the issuance of debit, credit or prepaid cards. However, card issuers determine the provider for each card.

Financial institutions should provide an option to their eligible customers to choose from the multiple card networks in the country, according to the circular. "This option may be exercised by customers either at the time of issue or at any subsequent time," the RBI added. Read more on the RBI circular

The RBI plans to implement the plan from October 1.

Meanwhile, domestic equity benchmark Nifty touched a fresh all-time high, continuing a record-breaking spree over the past few sessions through the upmove lost steam owing to weakness in financial shares. Last week, the blue-chip index crossed the psychologically-important 19,000 mark for the first time ever.

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