Visa and Axis Bank announced that Axis Bank is the first bank in India to achieve US$1 billion in total volume on Visa Travel Prepaid cards.  
 
The Axis Bank Travel Currency Card program offers foreign currency Visa Prepaid cards in nine major Currencies (US Dollar, Euro, Great Britain Pound, Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Singapore Dollar, Swiss Francs, Swedish Kroner and Japanese Yen). The cards are being used by business and leisure travelers who want to access their funds safely and conveniently while traveling overseas. Corporate customers form a majority of Axis Bank’s customer base. Other key consumer segments include leisure travelers, students studying abroad and medical tourists. 
 
Mr. Uttam Nayak, Country Manager of Visa India, said: “Visa congratulates Axis Bank on being the first financial institution in India to achieve US$1 billion in total volume on Visa Travel Prepaid cards. We look forward to working with them to expand their program offerings so more Indian travelers can enjoy the payment flexibility which Visa provides worldwide.” 
 
Mr. S K Chakrabarti, Executive Director, Axis Bank, said: “The Axis Bank Travel Currency Card programs have proven to be very popular with our customers, who have loaded in excess of US$100 million onto their cards over April and May this year alone. With the economy opening up and international travel volumes increasing, we expect more and more customers to avail of the service.” 
 
The demand for travel prepaid cards in India is growing among organizations as the country positions itself as a key regional business hub. Visa travel research shows that while the most common way business travelers pay for their travel expenses is credit card (80 percent of respondents), prepaid cards are also a popular choice with 40 percent of business travelers saying they used prepaid cards on their business trips.  
 
Nayak said: “The Visa Travel Prepaid card is a great way for business and leisure travelers to manage their money. Currency conversion is not required as funds are pre-loaded with the local currency of destination travel, the card is re-loadable and it is easy to keep track of spending. You can also check your balance online and receive mobile alerts for successful transactions. Cardholders can shop confidently around the world and pay for airline tickets, hotel bills, car rentals and other travel expenses at millions of merchants, or withdraw money in the local currency at more than 1.6 million ATMs.”