New Delhi: SBI Cards, a joint venture between SBI and GE Money aims to strengthen its geographical existence to 150 cities by March 2008. At present, SBI Cards has a presence in 110 cities.

Roopam Asthana, its Chief Executive said, “Our Endeavour is to reach 150 locations by March next year. We feel the potential for credit cards is going to be less beyond this number of cities. You will see a slowdown in terms of new cities coming in after we hit the 150-mark.”

Mr. Asthana said that SBI Cards has recently entered Siliguri in the North-East and is now looking Gangtok. He also said that South and West regions are excellent for the growth.

SBI’s recent announcement to enter into merchant acquiring business is encouraging, Asthana said.

“The less number of terminals for card acceptance has been a big challenge for the credit card industry. It is this infrastructure issue that hampers the growth of credit card business in the country. SBI’s announcement to enter merchant acquiring business will encourage us to go into the markets where terminals are going to be coming up and together we can do more business in those markets,” he added.

Asthana said that SBI Cards was in the hunt for affiliations with players in organized marketing and the health care business, where card spends are expected to climb. SBI Cards has no instant plans to strike the capital market.