Citibank account holders in India will soon be shopping online through CCAvenue, India's first and only neutral online payment gateway. CCAvenue has teamed up with India's largest credit card organization, Citibank, to extend its online payment services to hundreds of Indian Merchants' web sites.

Citibank was the first card company to come into India in the early nineties and introduce the concept of credit payments to the average Indian consumer. Today, that brave first step has paid off with Citibank still being one of the most preferred credit cards in the country.

Over the years, Citibank has consistently offered value-adds and extras to its account holders and card members. Now with this tie-up with CCAvenue, Citibank expands the convenience to its patrons: the facility to pay online at hundreds on Indian merchants websites.

"As a pioneer in online payments, CCAvenue is committed to providing a safe, reliable and convenient method for online sales and purchases. With Citibank now in its list of 'accepted cards', CCAvenue has made e-commerce safe and easy for millions of Citibank card members across India," said Mr. Patel, CEO, CCAvenue. "By partnering with Citibank, CCAvenue users will now have an additional choice of payment for secure, online transactions." This partnership will make several other brand names available as payment options to CCAvenue customers. These include names like Diners Club International, and Citibank E-Cards, along with conventional Visa and Master Cards.
CCAvenue enables any business to receive online payments securely, conveniently and cost-effectively. CCAvenue network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global payment solution. CCAvenue is a popular payment network for online auction websites and is being increasingly used at e-commerce sites for the sale of goods, services.


About Citibank
Citigroup (NYSE:C), the pre-eminent global financial services company, provides some 120 million consumers, corporations, governments and institutions in more than 100 countries with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, insurance, securities brokerage and asset management. Major brand names under Citigroup's trademark umbrella are Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Salomon Smith Barney, and Travelers.

Citibank is a member company of Citigroup, the largest and the most diversified provider of financial services in the world. With its 99-year history, Citibank has come to be acknowledged as one of the leading international banks in India, with a track record of outstanding business milestones.

In India, it was the pioneer in :
- consumer banking, being the first to introduce focused consumer lending programs;
- electronic banking, having made significant investments in technology.
- launching credit cards in India, and ranks amongst the leading credit card issuers in the country with over 1.5 million card members (i.e. over 70 % of the Indian credit cards are issued by Citibank. It has done 'Due Diligence' and maintains complete detailed records of more than 70% of Indian Credit Card Holders.). Citibank is also amongst the first to launch the Real time Internet Payment Gateway services in India. It will act as CCAvenue's acquiring bank to provide proprietary payment gateway services and will allow Citibank Net Banking and Debit card transactions through CCAvenue.

About Avenues
Avenues is a profitable, debt-free company and currently services thousands of eMerchants worldwide through its solutions www.CCAvenue.com, www.ResAvenue.com, www.EventAvenue.com, www.MembersAvenue.com, www.TrustAvenue.com, www.BpoAvenue.com. It is the largest integrated eCommerce solutions provider in South Asia. Avenues has shown revenue growth and profit growth consistently, year on year. Avenues is incorporated in India, and has offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, and USA. The Avenues support and development center is based in Mumbai, India. The total strength of the Avenues team is currently 120 personnel, spanning across all disciplines. For more information, log onto: www.Avenues.info