Barclays Bank India Pvt. Ltd. reportedly plans to review its credit card business in India after deciding to focus instead on secured retail assets.
Citing an unnamed source, local newspaper Business Standard reported on April 21 that Barclays could weigh several options, including selling its domestic credit card operations. The issuer may take bids for the card business or sell it directly if a buyer offers a high enough price, the source reportedly speculated.
Barclays declined a PaymentsSource request for comment, saying it does not comment on market speculations.
Earlier this month, IndusInd Ltd. confirmed it would take over the credit card business of Deutsche Bank India Pvt. Ltd. in a deal valued at 2.24 billion rupees (US$50.3 million or 34.8 million euros). The companies expect to close the deal by the end of the month (
Mrinalini Manral, an independent banking analyst based in Mumbai, tells PaymentsSource that if Barclays were to sell its card business, a domestic bank would be the most likely buyer. “The one who missed out on Deutsche could be gearing up for this sale,” she says.
Deutsche Bank had received bids from 11 banks, including Axis Bank Ltd., ICICI Bank Ltd., Karnataka Bank Ltd., Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd., Yes Bank Ltd., and Standard Chartered Bank India Pvt. Ltd.
Mumbai-based Axis was closest to IndusInd in the bidding to buy Deutsche Bank’s Indian card operations. But IndusInd’s offer to absorb the unit’s staff resulted in Axis dropping out of the negotiations.
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