Sidhartha, TNN | Aug 16, 2012, 06.09AM IST
Sanjay Rishi is an American Express veteran, having spent 25 years in the company in various capacities. As he looks to turn the company's focus from a premium-segment player to a mass-market firm, Rishi is hoping that his second stint in India to be "even better" than the first. Known to set stiff targets, Rishi was initially dealing with the development of payments business but is now looking after the entire operations. The buzz is that several executives have had to curtail the time they spend on the golf course. In an interview, Rishi spoke to TOI about leadership, the growth mindset and, of course, American Express' new India strategy. Excerpts:
Q: This is your second avatar in your second stint in India since you were initially dealing with the development of payments business in emerging markets. What should we expect in the coming months?
A: We decided to concentrate our efforts in India given the assets and momentum we already have in this critical market. We will extend our business model to move into emerging payments and adjacent opportunities. Historically, we have a strategy that has been focused on premium customers and large to mid-sized corporations. That is always going to be a core part of our strategy even as we seek to broaden and deepen our relationships with these segments. But just given the size of the opportunity that India represents, it's necessary for us to augment our core by moving into new segments, new geographies with new value propositions.
Q: What does this mean in terms of products?
These could be upstream products that appeal to a younger and aspiring affluent population. Or, they could be products for those who are predominantly cash users. We have acquired a number of new assets to add value to our present and future customers, such as prepaid products and loyalty marketing services. The logical point of entry for new segments does not have to be a credit card product. It could be a money transfer product, a travel or lifestyle product or a pre-paid card or marketing services or a loyalty product. There is also going be a lot of focus on the digital space given that e-commerce hasn't really translated into e-payments. However, our focus on serving premium customers will continue .We have direct relationships with both our card members and our merchants that we can leverage since we operate across the payments spectrum - something that our rivals and banks don't do. We are among the top credit card issuers and now a lot of industry is moving premium, where we have always been strong. So we see this as a validation of our approach
Q: Are you also looking at the financial inclusion and direct subsidy payments space via UID?
A: There are a number of developments in the payments space that did not exist even six years ago, which is what makes it a very exciting opportunity. Six years ago, plastic was pretty much an urban affluent phenomenon, we did not have credit bureaus or there was hardly any presence of organized retail. Similarly, the UID and financial inclusion process will help in many different ways. We are thinking about the right engagement model.
Q: In a way you are going mass market. Right?
A: We certainly want to play a bigger role in the payments business. My vision for our business is to have India as a growth engine for American Express globally while driving electronification of payments through relevant products and services.
Q: You mentioned that you are among the top three issuers. That is a big change. Has the card market matured.
A: Don't memorize that! But yes, we have certainly experienced rapid and profitable growth and intend to continue growing. We've offered superior value card products. The market has evolved and credit information bureaus have had a large role to play. Beyond the world of payment products, our loyalty marketing services business (Loyalty Partner) has been a good acquisition for us and we have managed to build a relationships with millions of customers, many of whom are not even card users.
Q: Is India some sort of a lab for the rest of the world, especially for the emerging markets?
A: I am hoping that in India we will do a few new and cool things with new customer segments and new capabilities that could be scaled.
Q: You seem to have a much smaller merchant presence compared to your competition. Is that also going to change?
A: We keep a very close finger on the pulse of the card member. As we scale up our card member relationships, we will have a corresponding strategy to build merchant relationships. Distribution costs of signing merchants are a reality and we therefore need to work these pieces together. As we've grown our cardmember base, we have enabled many new merchant relationships in retail as well as on-line. In the on-line space, we have increased our Card members' shopping experience by introducing new tools and services.
Q: On the corporate side, are you seeing companies cutting down on spending?
A: We have recently seen companies cut back on travel and entertainment spending so our organic growth rates soften a little bit. It hasn't really impacted our growth rates because we get a lot of business from new customers. In fact, during this kind of economic environment, we see a lot of demand for our expense management solutions which our corporate payment services provide.
