Card Briefs: Visa Hires B of A Exec for India Operations

Rahul Khosla has left BankAmerica Corp. to become Visa International's country manager for India.

In announcing the appointment, Visa executive vice president James G. Murray said rapid growth in the country necessitated an on-scene manager.

Mr. Khosla succeeded Chandra Agnihotri, who is moving into a new assignment at Visa Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore.

Mr. Khosla spent three years in retail banking with Bank of America in India and more than 10 years there with American Express Co.

Visa also said it is introducing the Electron debit card in India. Eight banks are to launch programs in 1999, including ANZ Grindlays Bank, Citibank, and HDFC Bank in the first half of the year. By 2000, more than 10,000 point of sale terminals and 400 automated teller machines in India are expected to accept Visa Electron.

Mr. Agnihotri said development of a shared ATM infrastructure and Visa's alliance with Equifax Venture Infotek paved the way for a wide-scale introduction of the on-line debit product.

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