[kaushikduttajsr]

Citi is the 3rd American company (to my knowledge) to quit India after GM, Ford. Tesla denied signing up for India.

We keep blaming companies for their business woes in India. Question is, should we look inwards now?

[aashishnb]

For everyone's information, from regulatory perspective, if a customer decides to not port & not close, Citi will have to provide services for atleast 3 years. Mind you, this may not apply for accounts and not credit cards, as its an unsecured loan & then have a right to close the facility at any time at their discretion.

Originally Posted by kaushikduttajsr

Citi is the 3rd American company (to my knowledge) to quit India after GM, Ford. Tesla denied signing up for India.

We keep blaming companies for their business woes in India. Question is, should we look inwards now?

For each of these 3, there would be X times more who would have opened shop and prospered.

Also, just as a background, Citi had closed customer facing/ retail businesses in many countries, not just India, as part of their global realignment. Australia business, for eg has already been transferred.

[superbad]

Originally Posted by hardilip

Do we have any other banks credits card that gives equivalent offer (redeem points directly for fuel?)

SBI credit cards have 2 options :-
1) SBI BPCL credit card: 13 points per 100 Rs spent in BPCL outlets. Redemption value : 4 pts for 1 Rupee fuel in select BPCL outlets. Effective value : 3.25% returns. Annual fees of Rs 499, waived off if annual spends > Rs 50000
2) SBI BPCL Octane credit card :- 25 pts / 100 Rs spent in BPCL outlets. Redemption value : same as above. Effective returns : 6.25%. Annual fee Rs 1499, waived off if annual spends > Rs 1.5 lakhs.

I've been using the first credit card for the past 5 years & have gotten about Rs 20000 worth of fuel redemptions. The only gripe is that the number of BPCL outlets which allow redemptions are quite less, & you may have to really hunt for one (preferably a COCO).

[arnieshwartz]

I had opted for migrating to Axis Bank but had never really given the customer service aspect much thought. Apart from the migration consent email / SMS advisory from sometime in Aug 2022, I haven't received any further communication from Citi in this regard. All said and done, if Axis can't match the customer service experience I've had with Citi, I wouldn't hesitate to close my accounts.

The only question that remains - what would be a really good alternative? I've had accounts with HDFC, SBI, ICICI and DBS Bank and can't say I've had any problems thus far.

[dextor]

I have been a Citi customer since 2005 and finally this relationship comes to an end. I have been using IOC card but then I also had Standard Chartered Titanium card which offers 5% cashback on fuel, so I do not care much about IOC card.

Recently I acquired Axis bank Airtel credit card and within a month I understood the service quality of Axis bank. In plain terms they are pathetic & no where near Citi standards. In case anyone is transferring the relationship from Citi to Axis be ready for painful support quality.

For example - Axis have chat support which mostly does not connect & if at all it connects the agent drops out randomly. Finally after multiple tries if you are able to chat with agent, that person can only give you information and cannot help you with any transaction or issues. You need to either call or visit branch.
Calling is again a hassle. First of all, all their call numbers are premium paid numbers which will not connect with default postpaid/prepaid package. You should have money in your prepaid account or you are charged extra on postpaid. Most of the times I have experienced disconnection after 10 minutes of waiting. Only when I am lucky the call gets connected in 6-8 minutes. Finally there is option of sending them mails but response takes 2-3 days and the reply is just for name sake and last line says "Please call our customer support if you still need further help".

[three10]

This move was on the cards (pun not intended ) since 2020 - When I received this comm way back, I was already facing problems doing international transactions (via paypal specifically) on citi cards. This was the triggering point, and I immediately closed no both of my Citibank cards.

Opened up a new card with ICICI / Amazon, and it has been smooth sailing since. I do most of my shopping on Amazon, and the 5% cash back is just very convenient. The card opening was a fully digital process and KYC was done online via video call.

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by kaushikduttajsr

Citi is the 3rd American company (to my knowledge) to quit India after GM, Ford. Tesla denied signing up for India.

We keep blaming companies for their business woes in India. Question is, should we look inwards now?

Nothing India specific. They are quitting 13 countries.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...a-6774521.html

But I do feel, the quality of service they offered wasn't sustainable for the low margin retail business in India. In a sense it's good to see that they didn't enter the low quality game.

[kaushikduttajsr]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

Also, just as a background, Citi had closed customer facing/ retail businesses in many countries, not just India, as part of their global realignment. Australia business, for eg has already been transferred.

Originally Posted by mayuresh

Nothing India specific. They are quitting 13 countries.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/bu...a-6774521.html

But I do feel, the quality of service they offered wasn't sustainable for the low margin retail business in India. In a sense it's good to see that they didn't enter the low quality game.

Thanks both for sharing your point of view. I'm in agreement and making a subtler point to your statement. India as a market is yet to become enticing for makers of quality products. Quality comes at a cost and India remains a cost sensitive market where cost unconscious and brand (quality) conscious makers like Ford, GM, Citi are likely be unprofitable. Look at Kia, the only new car maker prospering with wonderful cars. Yet, we all agree that Kia cars sold in the developing world are built to a cost, not at par with their worldwide quality.

Like BHPians Mayuresh pointed out, those who do not like to dilute what their brand offers worldwide will pack up their bags and leave, or worse degrade their quality to be called out for the same. E.g. VW 2.0, Ford Figo 2.0 or introduce subpar low cost sister brands and fail miserably, e.g. GM's Datsun.

There are some who will prefer bleeding in greed of market share. But when easy money stops flowing, they will cut their losses and exit.

In summary, we shouldn't blame makers for quitting India. We are not a matured consumption market. We value affordability and features at mass market cost. We get brands who can cater to them; built to a cost.

[Shanky777]

Fuel cards while great in the past, do not seem that great now. Reason being lack of enough fuel outlets who accept the redemption process, getting tied up with one brand for all fuel needs etc.
Also the points to rupee conversion is very low when looking at the current crop of co-branded fuel cards. (When compared to general purpose credit cards like Stanchart/HDFC diners/Axis magnus).
My suggestion would be to look at general purpose cards which give cashback/fuel surcharge waivers on fuel. This way the cashback so received can be used elsewhere too.

[mayuresh]

Originally Posted by kaushikduttajsr

We are not a matured consumption market. We value affordability and features at mass market cost. We get brands who can cater to them; built to a cost.

There are compulsions of every economy, its size, population, purchasing power, infrastructure and so on. Nothing is right or wrong. It's just the way it is.

[jinojohnt]

How do you compare the services of Citi and Axis?
I used to have a savings account with Citi long back, the services were leagues ahead of Axis. For me Axis service has hovered between Excellent-Average-Excellent-Average and currently is worst.

[charanreddy]

Originally Posted by kaushikduttajsr

Citi is the 3rd American company (to my knowledge) to quit India after GM, Ford. Tesla denied signing up for India.

We keep blaming companies for their business woes in India. Question is, should we look inwards now?

Yes and no to the above.. but mostly no !

GM and Ford is a very different story compared to Citi bank.

Citibank brought many innovative consumer finance products and their service has been top class. Speaking as I am a Citibank customer since 2007. Other than Amex, I see no other bank / card issuer in India even coming close to the customer service experience. The reason citibank is quitting India is due to growth prospects. RBI makes it really tough for foreign banks to scale. There are a lot of conditions on how many branches you can open etc. - One could argue this limited our exposure during the credit crunch of 2007 ! But the fact is Citi is exiting consumer finance business in India due to lack of scale as driven by regulation.

Quick disclaimer : Citibank - Decision Management was my first job out of college and I worked for Citi for almost 6.5 Yrs.

I can speak first hand that atleast for the consumer finance wing, ethics and conformity to legislation both in India and North America (Anti Bribery, Anti Money Laundering etc) is very seriously taken. For example : Each employee (incl. myself) was asked to go on two weeks of mandatory leave so that other employees can report any wrong doing at an early stage.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by charanreddy

Citibank brought many innovative consumer finance products and their service has been top class. Speaking as I am a Citibank customer since 2007. Other than Amex, I see no other bank / card issuer in India even coming close to the customer service experience. The reason citibank is quitting India is due to growth prospects. RBI makes it really tough for foreign banks to scale. There are a lot of conditions on how many branches you can open etc. - One could argue this limited our exposure during the credit crunch of 2007 ! But the fact is Citi is exiting consumer finance business in India due to lack of scale as driven by regulation.

Quick disclaimer : Citibank - Decision Management was my first job out of college and I worked for Citi for almost 6.5 Yrs.

I can speak first hand that atleast for the consumer finance wing, ethics and conformity to legislation both in India and North America (Anti Bribery, Anti Money Laundering etc) is very seriously taken. For example : Each employee (incl. myself) was asked to go on two weeks of mandatory leave so that other employees can report any wrong doing at an early stage.

Foreign retail banks have had a similar trajectory like American carmakers in India. They couldn’t see the path to profitability I suppose.

I’m sad to see Citibank leave. I’ve declined to migrate my account to Axis Bank.

In my experience, AMEX, Citibank and Standard Chartered were the best banks I’ve dealt with in India. I felt that common sense ranked higher than red tape when dealing with them. Issues/requests were sensibly dealt with by the first human I speak to over phone. For similar issues I’ll be in disbelief when I deal with government Banks or LIC. Logic had no place in the later. ICICI Bank is great if you have a personal relationship manager.

I hope the wonderful team that I’ve engaged with at Citibank get the opportunity to work in a similar environment.

[androdev]

I have had a savings AC and credit card with Citi from 2000 I think. It was awesome. However around 2015 or so RBI started harassing foreign banks a lot (probably for valid reasons) and consequently these banks have gone mental with KYC and auditing of customer transactions. I used to get so many calls to furnish details about every little transaction I made. I have had enough and closed the savings account. Thankfully online banking took off big way so these days most banks do just fine for saving bank account needs.

I continue to be a heavy user of their credit card because it works very reliably when used abroad or for just about any transaction of any value/currency as long as I have the credit available. In fact, I would deposit a couple of lakhs to my credit card account and I would be able to make higher value purchases when needed. I am very disappointed with the news that I will have migrate to Axis bank. I migrated just to keep the card working till I find a good alternative. I really doubt I will subject myself to the torture of calling Axis toll free customer support number - by now I know how horrible Indian mass market organisations do their call centre support.

[dmplog]

Listening to all Axis Customer Support stories, I worry if my port in request from Citi to Axis is a mistake. But, in absence of any equivalent product available in the market, I might as well try Axis and see how it goes..!

Originally Posted by s.sriram1989@gm

Looking for a bank which provides equally safe and good customer service like Citi did.
[.. snip ..]
Also I am looking for review on HSBC or Standard Chartered service.

I have been using HSBC Cards (Both Cashback Card and Premier Mastercard). Service and App experience is nice. Cashback Card is as good as ICICI AmazonPay Card on cashback percentages if not better for all online expenses (1.5% flat min and 5% for Amazon and some other partner merchants). All offline spends get 1% too. But it doesn't have Fuel Surcharge waiver.
Premier Mastercard is good too with Lounge Expenses and Fuel Surcharge waiver thrown in addition to certain other privileges.

Originally Posted by dextor

I have been a Citi customer since 2005 and finally this relationship comes to an end. I have been using IOC card but then I also had Standard Chartered Titanium card which offers 5% cashback on fuel, so I do not care much about IOC card.

Mind you, Standard Chartered Titanium card has a limit on 5% Fuel Cashback for spends upto 2000 only. So, if you fill up fuel above Rs 2K, then there is no cashback.

From StanChart Website: https://www.sc.com/in/credit-cards/s...alue-titanium/

You are eligible for a 5% cashback on fuel spends at all fuel stations up to INR 200 per month (Max cashback INR 100 per transaction). All transactions of INR 2,000 or below are eligible for cashback.