t's the mating season in the credit card business. Just about everyone is tying up with somebody else. Look at just the last few weeks. ABN AMRO tied up with the hospital chain MAX to create a �Wellness' credit card. Jet Airways and Citibank relaunched their co-branded credit card. And ICICI, which never seems to be out of the news, launched two credit cards in partnership: one with Kingfisher Airlines and the other with Central Mall, which is part of the Pantaloon group. And oh yes, SBI Card announced that it had introduced a co-branded card together with Lifestyle, the retail chain.

Just to emphasise the action in the business, in September HSBC launched a private label card for Star India Bazaar, the new hypermarket chain from Trent (part of the Tata Group, Trent also owns retail chain Westside). While Star India Bazaar has only one outlet in Ahmedabad currently, it intends to have more soon. Card holders will get a discount on their purchases at the store. HSBC is exploring other tie-ups with retail chains. ... more