Ola partners with SBI, VISA to launch credit card

Ride-hailing firm Ola has introduced its credit card in collaboration with SBI Cards, one of India's largest credit card issuers and Visa on Thursday. The newly launched Ola Money Credit Card seeks to transform the customer experience by offering a simplified application process, eliminating joining fees and providing transparent, flexible and convenient payments to Ola customers.

"We are excited to launch the Ola Money SBI Credit Card and we look forward to taking this to millions of Indians over the next few years. Mobility spends form a significant wallet share for users and we see a huge opportunity to transform their payments experience with this solution," said  Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola.

According to company's statement,  Ola is targeting 10 million Ola Money-SBI Credit Cards to be issued by 2022.

Meanwhile, Hardayal Prasad, MD & CEO, SBI Cards expressed his joy on this new collaboration with Ola. "The launch of Ola Money SBI Card underlines our penchant to provide innovative and industry-first payments solutions to our customers. Ola is considered a pioneer in the mobility industry and we believe this partnership will play a key role in further strengthening our card portfolio," he said.

The Ola-SBI Card partnership is India's first of its kind credit card in the mobility segment, added Prasad.

Ola's suite of digital financial offerings ranges from the Ola Money wallet to postpaid billing and micro-insurance for rides taken on the Ola platform.

Ola users will be able to apply, view and manage their Credit Card directly on the Ola app with a few taps.

"The Ola Money Credit Card card will help transition of Ola consumers from cash to secure, reliable and convenient digital payments not only for their daily commutes but for other expense categories as well," said TR Ramachandran, Group Country Manager - India & South Asia at Visa.

Further, the Bengaluru-based firm said that the Ola Money Credit Card will offer cash-back and rewards, instantly credited to the users' accounts in the form of Ola Money which can be redeemed against Ola rides, flight and hotel bookings, with lifetime validity.

Additionally, early this week Paytm tied up with Paytm to launch a co-branded credit card with a slew of incentives. Besides, last year in October, Amazon Pay tied up with ICICI Bank to launch a co-branded credit card.

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