Chennai: Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) is planning aggressive forays into the credit card business in India through product innovation, deepening usage patterns and expanding into new cities.

"We plan to have our presence in yet another 15 Indian cities by 2003 and come out with more value added personal products," Srinivasan Shyam, general manager and head of the Credit Card Division of the bank, told reporters here on May 28 on the launch of ‘Diva’, a specially designed women’s international credit card for women.

He claimed that SCB had over 25 per cent of the market share of cards issued and 30 per cent market share of the total outstandings, adding the bank was contributing about 50 per cent of India's total consumer banking revenues.

He said that the strategy for future growth included deepening usage patterns through innovative tie-ups and special offers plus consolidating presence in existing geographies, while building on new two tier cities.

He also said that SCB already had a presence in 10 Indian cities, adding that Indian operations constituted about 11 per cent of the SCB group's global revenues.

PTI _