Local travellers averse to credit cards

Despite the phenomenal growth in plastic money culture and the total number of credit cards in use touching 15 million mark, only 36 out of every 100 Indians travelling overseas own a credit card.

This revelation is made by MasterCard International's consumer lifestyle survey for 2005.

MasterCard says this revelation confirms the high growth potential of the Indian credit card industry even as the Reserve Bank of India is cautious about the growth.

The survey, part of MasterCard's MasterIndex of Consumer Confidence survey, was conducted among Indians planning personal air travel over the next 12 months.

The percentage of Indians travelling abroad owning a credit card is very low compared with even countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. In UAE , credit card ownership of overseas travellers is 82 per cent and in Kuwait it is 64 per cent.

Tourism industry estimates that about 4.5 million Indians travel overseas annually. The number is only going to swell further. The World Tourism Organsiation has predicted that by 2020 India will account for 50 million outbound tourists because of increased foreign exchange availability, growth of corporate houses and rise in discretionary incomes of middle class.

Of the Indian respondents owning credit cards, 67 per cent prefer to use a credit card over cash during foreign travel because they feel credit cards are more secure than cash.

Another 27 per cent prefer to use credit cards because payment is more convenient. Nearly 60 per cent of Indian overseas travellers said they would use credit cards for cash withdrawals at ATMs abroad, when on a personal trip.

Fourty-seven per cent Indian travellers use their credit cards to pay for hotel accommodation as well as meals.