ICICI Bank Unveils Gem & Jewelry Specific Card

The ICICI Bank, a leading Indian bank, Monday announced the launch of a gems and jewelry industry specific platinum credit card. The announcement was made at a seminar titled Maximizing Opportunities: A Perspective on Relationships with Banks, held at IIJS in Mumbai. The card, launched with the GJEPC, will have an enhanced credit line of Rs. 1.5 - 2 million ($37,000 - $49,000), which will be available at a reportedly attractive interest rate. The card was launched jointly by Sanjay Kothari, chairman GJEPC; Vasasnt Mehta, vice chairman GJEPC; Sachin Khandelwal, senior general manager & head of the Cards Product Group of the ICICI and Sanjeev Mantri, general manager, SME Lending Portfolio Group, ICICI. Khandelwal said that the ICICI''s total lending to the sector is currently at around $1 billion, of which about 50 percent is to the retail business. He further stated that the bank''s total credit card business amounted to roughly Rs. 5 billion ($122.9 million). Of this, the share of the gem and jewelry industry was around 10-15 percent, which trails only the travel and tourism industry and is catching up fast.