SBI launches SBI Gold debit card

Mumbai, Aug 4: Country's largest public sector owned State Bank of India (SBI) today launched SBI Gold International debit card in partnership with Visa International, which enables customers having minimum quarterly balance of Rs 50,000 to avail an array of value added services.

These include Card-to-card money transfer, bill pay, permanent cash back facility and cash withdrawal without service charges. The card also offers daily cash withdrawal of Rs 50,000 from ATMs and daily transaction limit of Rs 200,000 at point of sale (POS).

SBI, which is the largest issuer of debit cards in Asia-pacific with 27 million card holders, had launched a 'cash back plus offer' on its debit card early this week.

The bank has set a target of 25,000 ATMs in three years from the current 7,200 and card issuance to one million per month.

SBI gold card is the first in a series of cards SBI plans to launch in partnership with Visa International while other variants-Yuva, Platinum and shopping cards will be introduced in ensuing months, said Chairman O.P Bhatt to reporters here. Cards would be given without any annual fee, he said.

''This would help in achieving the goal of cash-less transactions in the country and to facilitate more customers to make transactions faster'', he said.

Visa International has partnered with 34 banks in India which include public and private sector lenders. The company has plans to roll out biometric cards in the country in collaboration with banks.

UNI