The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is allowing some non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) to issue credit cards, but it will have strict conditions so that one with a strong balance sheet get into the risky business. India is a market with low credit-card penetration of 3 to 4 per cent.

For a company to be registered as an NBFC, the capital requirement is not very high; therefore, not all firms can issue credit cards. Besides a minimum net worth, RBI will also require liquidity requirements. It may also look into the IT infrastructure and cybersecurity measures, as cards can also be issued digitally. So far, only two NBFCs i.e. SBI Card and BoB card can issue credit cards.