India, Jan. 5 -- India's co-branded credit cards proposition may appear straightforward at first glance. Take a popular consumer brand, attach it to a bank-issued credit card, add cashbacks or reward points, and call it loyalty. In reality, it is far more complex. Banks and co-brand partners, in search of new users and sustained engagement, are attempting to accelerate credit card circulation and usage in India. The assumption is that sharper rewards on transactions will spark loyalty. A critical question now confronts the ecosystem - are banks and platforms or partners including telecom, hospitality, retail, airlines and payment platforms, merely collecting users in hope that loyalty will follow, or is there a deeper strategy at work?

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