Consumers Perspectives towards Credit Card

Abstract

The demand for credit cards is growing over time. The total number of credit cards in the system is at around the 25 million mark. This number was on 31st march 2009 stood at around 11 million while debit cards were at more than 20 million The distribution has increased with local banks becoming more aggressive. However, duplication of users is a concern for the industry which can exaggerate the number of active users. Since the business is largely concentrated in the metro cities, the average user holds 2 to 3 cards. This research has been carried out to understand the card industry that includes the types of providers, types of cards, features of cards, acceptability of the card among the Indian consumer. It also involves finding consumer's perception towards different providers. Questionnaire has been used. People from different age groups, occupation and income level were selected for the study. A comparison of various card providers has been made through graphical representation on a list of parameters, like credit period, credit limit, penalty charges, provided, security of money, cost involved and number of ATM's. The inferences were drawn for two banks ICICI Bank and State Bank of India. The above research concluded that that public bank like SBI scores on factors like low cost, penalty charges and long credit periods but a bank like ICICI is being considered as costly, but definitely provides better and efficient service in terms of additional features and benefits.