ICICI Bank Ltd. of Mumbai, the No. 2 banking company in India and its largest credit card issuer, is planning to offer debit cards to customers in the United States.
The company said Tuesday that its New York branch would provide Visa Inc.-branded debit cards to people who use its Global Indian Account, which serves customers with financial needs in the United States.
The Global account enables people to hold deposits in both U.S. dollars and Indian rupees. The debit card is linked to the balance held in dollars and can be used at merchants worldwide that accept Visa cards, and to make cash withdrawals from automated teller machines.
Stacey Pinkerd, Visa's head of global consumer debit products, said in an ICICI press release that the account is an innovative way for the Indian banking company "to meet the evolving payment needs of its growing and geographically distributed customer base."
