A tripartite partnership aims to eliminate out-of-pocket cash expenses for employees, reduce travel paperwork and prevent fraudulent claims.

Indian corporates of all sizes may soon be able to reimagine the way they pay for, reconcile and manage company spending. To help facilitate this, India’s private sector HDFC Bank will be offering a corporate credit card for business travellers, providing a one-stop solution for payment and expense management during business trips.

The corporate credit card, supported by Mastercard will also tap on SAP Concur invoice management and travel administration solutions to enhance employee experience, increasing visibility, saving money, and improving corporate efficiency.

This integrated solution is born from the tripartite partnership of the companies mentioned above. Due to two pervasive challenges facing business travelers in India.  According to a recent SAP Concur survey conducted amongst 500 Indian business travellers:

  • 31% were stressed about filing expense reports after a business trip in the middle of a busy workday
  • 32% of employees lost over INR 7000 of their personal money on a travel related business expense that was not reimbursed, owing to existing gaps in business travel expense management solutions

The offering from HDFC Bank and SAP Concur solutions is designed with such user challenges in mind, ensuring that business travellers have stress-free and productive trips.

The key benefits include:

  1. Upfront visibility and control of spends: All business spends incurred by an employee are populated in Concur Expense to ensure faster claim submission, processing, and reimbursement in compliance with the organisation’s policies.
  2. Cashless payment and digital claim process: Minimises the need to carry cash and delivers efficiency and accuracy in employee reimbursements.
  3. Integrates partner apps: Provides the advantage of a connected ecosystem by leveraging partnerships with Uber for Business, Booking.com, Airbnb, Hilton and other partners.
  4. Global Wi-Fi: Complimentary Wi-Fi services across airports, flights, and restaurants that will keep travellers connected without worrying about roaming fees, unsecured connections, or configuring SIMs.
  5. Complimentary lounge program:  Provides several complimentary lounge visits at international and domestic airports.

Said Parag Rao, Country Head, Payments Business and Marketing, HDFC Bank: “With this card, corporates will be able to offer the best business traveller experience through cashless payments that integrate with management solutions for Concur Expense. Corporates can gain greater insights and control, while ensuring regulatory and tax compliance through this solution. Together with SAP Concur solutions, we aim to reinvent the way Indian corporates experience business travel.”

“Success in business today means finding ways to be more productive while reducing costs. However, as spending gets easier, driving control and improving employee experience gets more complicated. By automating and integrating travel, expense, and invoice management, we are helping our customers build an intelligent spend management platform. This enables them to uncover valuable spend data, simplify processes, and make smart decisions. Using our joint solution, organisations can make strategic decisions based on insights unique to their business and gain a consolidated view of their budget, drive control on how employees spend money, automate payments to speed up processing, and ensure compliance and data accuracy,” said Mankiran Chowhan, Managing Director, Indian subcontinent, SAP Concur.

Said Porush Singh, Division President, South Asia Mastercard: “Travel & Entertainment (T&E) is among the fastest growing spends in the commercial cards space. With the new HDFC Bank and SAP Concur card, powered by Mastercard, corporates can save up to 10% due to increased efficiencies and strategic insights. The new corporate card solutions allow access to enhanced features for traveller convenience and increased protection against fraud including inbuilt proprietary tools that will help to capture and consolidate accurate financial reporting to enable deep analysis for greater cost savings.”