Kotak Mahindra Bank, PVR launch co-branded debit card

Kotak Mahindra Bank and multiplex chain operator PVR on Tuesday launched a co-branded debit card, claiming to be the first ones to offer such a product in the movie and entertainment genre.

The partners, which had first launched co-branded credit cards ten years ago, are seeking to leverage on the rise in usage of debit cards in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and the reopening of cinemas across India.

Addressing a virtual press conference, Kotak Mahindra Bank President, Products, Alternate Channels and Customer Experience Delivery - Puneet Kapoor said, the bank has been associated with PVR for over 10 years and wants to add more to the existing products of the two co-branded Kotak PVR credit cards.

"We are leveraging on the strength of our partnership with PVR and adding a unique debit card based on entertainment as well," he said, adding the Kotak PVR co-branded debit card which is "India's first movie debit card".

PVR CEO Gautam Dutta said, cinemas are by far "the cheapest way to entertain yourself for three hours and this is the most sought after entertainment destination" and debit cards offer an easy access to it.

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"We cater to about 100 million people coming into the cinemas. Our core audience is between 14 and say about 35 (years of age) and a debit proposition, according to me, would work brilliantly because a lot of people, consumers in India do not qualify for a credit card. So this is really a proposition that works with them," he added.

Dutta further said the launch of the card comes at the right time when the film exhibition sector is showing strong signals of revival with states relaxing restrictions and cinema enthusiasts resuming their movie going habits with the vibrant content pipeline being showcased at the cinemas.

Moreover, Kapoor said the usage of debit cards is also on the rise in the aftermath of the pandemic thus offering an opportunity to launch such a co-branded debit card for movies.

"If we take February 2020 as a benchmark, we had about Rs 57 lakh crore of spends happening on 82.3 crore debit cards. In September 2021, we had Rs 62 lakh crore spends on 92 lakh crore debit cards," he said adding the spending on e-commerce as a percentage of total spends has increased by 5-10 per cent.

Kapoor said customers will earn reward points on all spends on the co-branded debit cards, including 10 reward points for every Rs 100 spent at PVR Cinemas and 0.50 reward points for every Rs 100 spent on all other transactions, with one reward point equivalent to Re 1.

He said the Kotak-PVR co-branded credit cards have around 3 lakh customers.