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India-based Punjab National Bank plans to establish a credit card subsidiary, a bank spokesperson tells CardLine Global. The spokesperson declines to provide more details, but the bank reportedly will issue Visa-branded credit cards and discontinue a credit card joint venture with HSBC Holdings PLC. Punjab already issues debit cards that carry the MasterCard brand. The bank's move comes as the credit card market in India enjoys significant growth, Prathima Rajan, an India-based analyst with United States-based research firm Celent LLC, tells CardLine Global. "Almost all banks operating in India want to be a part in this bandwagon and compete for their pie of market share," she says. Punjab has some 35 million customers, Rajan says. The bank operates 3,850 branches in India, according to Punjab's Web site.
