SBI Card has elevated Vishal Wadhwa to Senior Vice President – Brand & Digital Marketing, expanding the responsibilities of a marketing leader who has spent more than seven years with the credit card company.
Wadhwa was previously Vice President at SBI Card, where he headed Brand Communication and Research. In the expanded role, he is expected to lead the company’s brand, digital marketing and consumer research functions, bringing customer insights, communication and digital engagement under a broader marketing mandate. Wadhwa announced the elevation through LinkedIn.
The development is more significant when viewed against SBI Card’s current business trajectory. Digital channels are becoming an increasingly important part of how the company acquires customers, engages cardholders and drives transactions — making Wadhwa’s expanded digital brief particularly relevant.
Why Vishal Wadhwa’s New Role Matters Now
For SBI Card, digital marketing is increasingly connected to much more than advertising.
The company’s latest reported numbers show a card business where customer acquisition, app engagement, online commerce and UPI-enabled credit-card spending are becoming closely intertwined.
In its Q1 FY27 investor presentation, SBI Card reported 2.26 crore cards in force, up 7% year-on-year, after sourcing 10.23 lakh new accounts during the quarter. Total spends reached ₹1,18,475 crore, rising 27% year-on-year, while profit after tax increased 20% to ₹664 crore.
SBI Card’s Digital Customer Journey Is Expanding
SBI Card had already identified digital acquisition as an important growth area before Wadhwa’s latest elevation.
During its FY26 earnings call, the company said its SBI Card Sprint platform was driving momentum in digital acquisition, with a growing proportion of new account journeys being initiated digitally. SBI Card also highlighted data-driven customer engagement and hyper-personalisation across its mobile app and other digital channels.
During FY26, the company expanded its co-branded portfolio with products including Tata Neu SBI Card, Flipkart SBI Card, IndiGo SBI Card and PhonePe SBI Card SELECT, alongside national and regional offers intended to increase spending and customer engagement.
That makes the addition of digital marketing to Wadhwa’s senior leadership mandate notable. His previous responsibilities were centred on brand communication and research; the new role explicitly broadens that scope into the digital layer through which an increasing share of SBI Card's customer interactions now takes place.
UPI Is Also Changing the Credit Card Marketing Playbook
Another important part of the story is the convergence of credit cards and UPI.
SBI Card reported that UPI spends on RuPay cards grew more than 13% quarter-on-quarter in Q1 FY27. Department stores and grocery, fuel, utilities, restaurants and apparel were among its leading UPI spending categories.
Even more striking is the geographic mix.
According to SBI Card’s Q1 FY27 presentation, Tier 2 and beyond markets accounted for 76% of its active UPI cards-in-force and 80% of UPI spends on RuPay cards among the segment represented in the company’s presentation. The reported average monthly UPI spend per account was also higher for Tier 2+ customers than for Tier 1 customers.
For a brand and digital marketing function, this potentially changes how customers are segmented and engaged. The digital credit-card opportunity is no longer limited to premium online shoppers in the largest metropolitan markets; QR acceptance and UPI-linked credit are extending digital card usage into everyday payment categories and a broader geographic base.
News4Bharat has previously explained how RuPay Credit Cards on UPI differ from UPI Lite and bank-approved Credit Lines on UPI, an important distinction as credit increasingly becomes embedded inside the UPI payment experience. Read: UPI Lite, Credit Lines and RuPay Credit Cards Explained
Who Is Vishal Wadhwa?
Wadhwa brings more than two decades of experience spanning financial services, telecom and consumer electronics.
He joined SBI Card in June 2019 as Vice President and went on to lead its brand communication and research function. His responsibilities included communication across the company’s credit card portfolio and working across brand, research, media and related marketing functions.
Before SBI Card, Wadhwa spent approximately six years with Vodafone Idea, serving as Brand Vertical Head and gaining experience across the Vodafone and Idea brands.
His earlier career included more than eight years in roles associated with Tata Docomo, including marketing communications responsibilities, after beginning his career with LG Electronics India in 2004.
His LinkedIn profile also lists the KJ Somaiya Institute, Mumbai, as part of his educational background.
The career progression gives him experience across categories that have undergone major consumer and technology transitions — from mobile telecommunications and consumer electronics to digital financial services.
From Brand Communication to a Broader Consumer Mandate
The more interesting part of Wadhwa’s elevation is therefore not simply the change from Vice President to Senior Vice President.
It is the expansion of the mandate.
His earlier SBI Card remit combined brand communication and consumer research. The latest role adds digital marketing to that mix, placing three closely connected areas — brand, digital and consumer understanding — within his leadership scope.
That combination can become increasingly relevant as financial brands move from campaign-led communication toward continuous customer engagement.
A prospective cardholder may first encounter a product through search, social media or a partner platform, begin an application digitally, receive personalised offers through an app and eventually use the card online or through UPI. Marketing therefore touches multiple stages of the customer lifecycle.
SBI Card's own disclosures point in that direction, with the company emphasising hyper-personalisation, digital onboarding and the use of data to improve customer engagement.
The Larger Digital Payments Context
Wadhwa also assumes the expanded responsibility at a time when India’s payments market continues to evolve rapidly.
UPI is increasingly supporting different sources of funds — including bank accounts, credit lines and linked RuPay credit cards — which is changing the relationship between traditional card products and QR-led digital payments.
News4Bharat’s recent coverage has tracked this transition, including changes around UPI payment rules and charges as well as the expansion of payment access beyond smartphones. Read News4Bharat's UPI Charges 2026 explainer
This wider shift gives credit-card marketers a more complex challenge: growing transaction frequency and digital engagement while maintaining clear product positioning around rewards, credit, convenience, trust and responsible usage.
What to Watch Next at SBI Card
Wadhwa’s elevation comes ahead of an important phase for SBI Card’s marketing strategy.
The company already has significant scale, while its latest results point to continued growth in customer acquisition and spends. At the same time, online spending now represents nearly two-thirds of retail spends, digital onboarding is gaining ground and UPI-linked credit-card usage is expanding.
The next phase will show how SBI Card brings these pieces together — particularly brand positioning, digital acquisition, customer personalisation, consumer research, co-branded partnerships and engagement across Tier 2+ markets.
For Wadhwa, the promotion therefore represents more than a seniority change. It gives him a wider role at the intersection of brand building and the increasingly digital way consumers discover, acquire and use credit cards.
Also Read | SBI Card Annual Reports