Press Release    Wednesday, July 26, 2000

Hutchison Max Telecom Ltd., Mumbai's leading cellular service provider and Standard Chartered Bank today, jointly announced their plans to introduce a co-branded credit card, for existing and prospective customers of Hutchison Max Telecom. This is for the first time in the country that a leading Telecom company has entered into a strategic alliance with a major card issuer for a co-branded credit card to its customers. The Orange Standard Chartered Global Credit Card will be exclusively issued as a Visa card.

Mr. Sandip Das, Chief Operating Officer, Hutchison Max Telecom Limited, said "Our continuing endeavor is to give best value to our customers through imaginative alliances with leading corporate organizations. We are excited about this co-branding proposition. VISA has a wide range of merchant establishment while Orange has its own prestigious tie-ups. The combination is a truly timely value-add for the customers from two strong service organizations. We believe that this strategic partnership with a leading edge retail bank and the fastest growing credit card business in the country, Standard Chartered, would enable us to offer significant value added services to the customers".

Orange is the global communication brand which was recently launched by Hutchison Max Telecom in Mumbai recently. HMTL, one of the India's leading cellular service providers has over 1,60,000 customers in Mumbai.

Mr. Harpal Dugal, Head Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered, India said, " We are excited about our first co-branded card with a cellular service provider and a strong and vibrant brand like Orange. In the coming weeks you will see that both Standard Chartered and Hutchison Max Telecom will together 'Speak Orange'. Orange customers should look forward to a range of powerful features and benefit with their co-branded credit card with Standard Chartered."

Standard Chartered Bank is a leading credit card issuers in India and has several firsts to its credit. These include the first Global Credit Card in India, the first Photocard, the picture card and the first card issuer to be ISO 9002 certified in India. Standard Chartered has a customer base of over 7,00,000 credit cardholders.

Mr. Vishal Pandit, Country Manager- South Asia, Visa International said " The Orange Standard Chartered Visa Global Credit Card will offer Indian customers the best of three Global brands. With more co-brand and affinity programmes worldwide than any other card brand, Visa can offer customers the benefit that Visa cardholders enjoy globally at over 19 million locations including more than 627,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM network."

As the "World's Best Way to Pay," Visa is the world's leading payment brand and the largest payment system worldwide with more volume than all other major payment cards combined. Visa plays a pivotal role in advancing new payment products and technologies to benefit its 21,000 member financial institutions and their cardholders. Visa has more than 80 smart card programs in 35 countries and on the Internet, with 23 million Visa chip cards, including 8 million Visa Cash cards. Visa is pioneering Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) programs to enable and advance Internet commerce. There are over 1 billion Visa, Visa Electron, Visa Cash, Interlink and PLUS cards in the market. Visa-branded cards generate US $ 1.6 trillion in annual volume and are accepted at over 19 million worldwide locations, including more than 627,000 ATMs in the Visa Global ATM Network. Their Internet address is www.visa.com.

Issued for and on behalf of Orange by:
Mrinal Sapre
Sampark Public Relations Pvt. Ltd.
#2845560 /2845550
25/7/00