Ola forays into credit card business in partnership with SBI to monetise its customers

Ride-hailing major Ola has launched its highly anticipated co-branded credit in partnership with SBI. Branded as Ola Money SBI Credit Card, the card will be powered by Visa.

The card will offer a host of benefits to customers through an exclusive rewards program. The move is a part of the suite of digital financial offerings from Ola Financial Services including micro-insurance, postpaid services and Ola Money.

A year ago, Entrackr had exclusively reported about Ola's plan of launching the co-branded credit card.

Leveraging its 150 million customer base, the Softbank-backed company reportedly plans to issue 1 million cards in the first year and it is targeting 10 million Ola Money-SBI Credit Cards to be issued by 2022.

Ola users can apply, view and manage their credit card via mobile app. Additionally, credit card users will also benefit from cash-back and rewards, instantly credited to their accounts in the form of Ola Money which can be redeemed against Ola rides, flight and hotel bookings, revealed the company in a press release.

On the lines of Uber, that has been providing credit card in US in association with Visa, Ola will offer cashback across categories such as 7% back on flight booking, 20% back on domestic hotel bookings, 20% back on more than 6,000 restaurants among others.

For the uninitiated, the ride-hailing unicorn has already been offering premium membership service – Ola Select that offers a host of credit card sort of features, including free lounge access at airports and subsidised upgrade.

Similarly, Ola's credit card will help Ola consumers to secure, reliable and convenient digital payments not only for their daily commutes but for other expense categories as well.