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American Express to adopt focussed approach

CHENNAI: The rising number of high net worth individuals (HNIs), the emergence of a new category of affluent middle-class with an annual income of above Rs. 10 lakh, the advent of youth power and their changing lifestyles have all made American Express Bank to adopt a focussed approach to its credit card business in India. Asserting this during an interaction with The Hindu here, Amit Dutta, Vice-President (Marketing), said American Express would focus on top-end of the credit card customers by offering tailor-made products to suit their lifestyle needs. “We want to be relevant to our card members,” he said, pointing to careful structuring of all its credit cards.

Since the launch of U.S. dollar card in 1986, it has come a long way and has today 13 more active credit cards in India focussing mainly on the ‘affluent’.

Mr. Dutta said American Express did not believe in issuing cards free and that it relied on in-house trained marketing personnel to win clients. There were one lakh top HNIs in the country with financial assets in excess of $1 million. Further, there were over two million households in major metros with an income of over Rs. 10 lakh. Mr. Dutta said ‘high value’ people tended to revolve less. “Our focus is on people who do not revolve,” he pointed out.

Out of the estimated 45,000 affluent individuals in Chennai, the fifth most affluent city in India, at least 59 per cent tended to travel abroad frequently, spend more on shopping, beauty/grooming services, parties, health and fitness.

The bank, he said, now had launched a platinum credit card and a co-branded Karat (American Express-Kingfisher-Airtel) platinum credit card in Chennai.

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