Ranchi, July 27: Banks are reluctant to extend credit card facilities to residents in the capital.
With Ranchi becoming the capital, private banks have mushroomed in the city assuring all types of facilities to its customers. But none of them has started the credit card facility. The same banks issue credit cards to their customers in bigger cities.
Do the banks feel insecure? UTI Bank manager Uday Kumar says, “The question of insecurity does not arise. If there was insecurity, why would we open our outlets here? Why would we provide loans? As far as our bank is concerned, we are in the process of introducing credit card facility. There are some technical problems.”
“Whenever a bank starts credit card facility, we first introduce it in bigger cities. Gradually, we bring it to other cities. Bigger cities have to be given priority. So it takes some time. There is a definite process for everything,” he added.
IndusInd Bank manager Shahid Imam said, “There is no question of insecurity. We have to trust our customers. Actually there are no takers for credit cards in the city. The credit card culture will take time to develop. Just go to any shop in the capital, they will not accept credit cards. The cash system persists here. We do issue debit cards. The usage of credit cards is yet to pick up. Most hotels do not accept these cards,” he added.
Corporation Bank manager N.N. Rao said, “There are no customers asking for credit cards. We have other branches in different cities where credit cards are very popular. But the demand is negligible in Ranchi.”
An official of HDFC Bank said since it was a new branch, it had not yet started issuing credit cards in Ranchi. “We started off last year. In Calcutta, we have started credit card facility. Credit cards are more popular in bigger cities. Moreover, there is a space crunch at our bank. But we are thinking of introducing credit cards in the capital very soon.”
State Bank of India issues credit cards to its customers in the capital. SBI chief manager S. Chandra said, “We do issue credit cards. The other banks are new entrants in Ranchi. So they take some more time to introduce the facility.”
Vishnu Budhia, secretary of the Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries’ said there were several reasons why credit cards are not used in Ranchi. In his own words, “The main problem is misuse. There have been instances when credit cards have been misused. They tend to buy more than the card limit.”
He also pointed out, “The information does not reach on time as Internet facilities are poor in Ranchi. Moreover, some of them like the American Express cards take a long time to clear the credit. It also boasts of clearing the credit within a month, but it takes two to three months. So the shopkeepers do not want to take any risk.”
An employee of Kaveri Restaurant said, “No, we do not accept credit cards. There are a lot of hassles and tension involved in the process. We get to hear of instances when cards furnished by the customers have lapsed and hotel management has no option but to incur losses.”
Hotel Arya is one of the few hotels, which accept credit cards. An official of the hotel said, “Yes, we do accept credit cards. A person coming to the city for 15 days is not going to carry cash with him. Credit cards are the best option.”
