Charge it

Wed, May 14 12:45 AM

Until recently credit cards were a sign of being grown up. With big credit limits came great responsibilities.

But that is changing with lifestyle oriented co-branded cards targetting younger Indians. A slew of co-branded cards has been launched including the Delhi Metro Citibank Credit Card.

It is like the Metro smart card but it recharges as soon as the user is low on cash. "We're exploring the idea of a metro card with an electronic chip that can be identified in parking slots, eating places on premises and even metro buses.

The idea is to reduce the weight in the wallet and have one card for everything," says DMRC's spokesperson Anuj Dayal. If you're more of the wining, dining, art connoisseur the card for you is the ICICI card in association with the Delhi based Polka Art Gallery.

It is designed for those who buy a lot of art. "It makes life easier for my clients who now have a specialised card to buy art on credit," says Arti Singh, the owner of Polka Art Gallery.

In 2002 Citibank and MTV came out with an Accessory card for those who do funky shopping. Citibank also has recently, released co-branded cards with Vodafone for talktime and Indian Oil for petro points.

"We encourage people to look carefully at their lifestyle, their spending habits and needs, and accordingly decide or help us choose an appropriate card for them," said a Citibank spokesperson. In November 2007 Deutsche Bank and Landmark launched a credit card for book lovers.

The bank also has a Cry Card and a WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Card for those with a social conscience. But the real clincher of the niche-card status is the ICICI Bank Mohun Bagan Card, which 'caters to the football lover' and offers deals like a free ticket to an English Premier League match and discounts of sports products.

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