Visa records 61% growth in retail, 47% in Card Sales Volume

New Delhi, June 28 (UNI) Reflecting its strengthening position in India, Visa International today reported a 61 per cent increase in its Retail Sales Volume (RSV) to 5.37 billion dollars for the year ended March 31, 2006.

The company's Card Sales Volume (CSV) grew 47 per cent to reach 32 billion dollars for this year, of which consumer debit alone contributed 26.43 billion dollars.

Commenting on the growth of Visa in India, Visa International Asia Pacific South Asia Country Manager Santanu Mukherjee said, ''Over the past two years, we have focused on implementing our strategy at two levels -- offering innovative products and services to customers of member banks, and establishing and building strategic partnerships and initiatives that contribute to the overall development of the payment industry in the country.'' The total number of cards it issued grew 36 per cent with 39 million Visa cards sold as on March 2006 -- of which 27 million were Visa Debit, 12 million were Visa credit, and the remaining were Visa prepaid and commercial cards.

The number of transactions by Visa cardholders jumped 38 per cent year-on-year to reach 556 million transactions this year.

Mr Mukherjee further said, Visa, in the year ahead will continue to focus on technology-driven programmes beneficial to industries and areas like tourism, spending through electronic channels that have a direct impact on foreign exchange earnings for the country.

In Asia Pacific, Visa commands a large market share, with 62 per cent of all card purchases at the point of sale, being made through Visa cards.

There are currently 277 million Visa-branded cards in the region.

For the year ended December 2005, 579 billion dollars were spent at point of sale or withdrawn from ATMs in Asia Pacific using Visa cards.

UNI RA PV RK1941