India’s Reliance readies credit card debut | TechCrunch

India’s fast-growing co-branded credit card market may soon see a new entrant: the country’s most valuable firm.

Reliance is working with the state-backed lender SBI to launch two co-branded credit cards on the homegrown Rupay network, according to documents reviewed by TechCrunch.

The cards, called Reliance SBI Card, will offer some “exclusive” benefits, such as vouchers of Reliance Retail, the conglomerate’s retail chain, and discounts on spendings at Reliance Trends, Ajio, JioMart, Urban Ladder and other Reliance properties, according to the documents.

SBI briefly confirmed the existence of the cards on a web page that it has since taken down.

Reliance’s interest in the credit card business comes at a time when its financial services spin-off firm, JFS, has launched lending and insurance businesses. In its annual report earlier this month, Jio Financial Services said it plans to launch debit cards.

The financial services is the newest sector for Mukesh Ambani, who has entered several businesses — including telecom — in the past decade and scaled them to tentpole positions. Reliance also operates the nation’s largest retail chain, which has been valued at $100 billion in recent fund raises from investors, including KKR, and the top telecom operator in India.