Mumbai Bank Takes Over Deutsche Bank's Credit Card Business

Vanessa Doctor

12 April 2011

Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank has taken over the Indian credit card business of Deutsche Bank.

As a result of the acquisition, the bank adds around 200,000 more clients to its base. This complements IndusInd's goal to boost its local consumer banking scope by entering a new financial services segment. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It has become a trend among foreign players in India to unload some of their businesses and focus on their core offerings, mostly because of the limited branch licenses issued by India's central bank every year.

"Our agreement with IndusInd Bank is in line with our desire to build our retail banking business in India around our core strengths of deposits, wealth management, and secured lending," said Prashant Joshi, the head of the private and business clients division.

India is a highly attractive market for the credit card business due mostly to the continuously expanding affluent middle class. The country also has a largely untapped credit card client potential, with only 3 per cent of the population having credit cards, compared to 20 per cent in China.