Credit card spending hit a record high of Rs 1.45 lakh crore in July surpassing the earlier record of Rs 1.41 lakh crore in May 2023
This growth comes after a 2.4% decline in spends during the preceding month.
The jump in July was on the back of e-commerce payments which comprises 65.7%, up from 64% recorded in the previous month. In contrast, the proportion of point-of-sale (PoS) transactions fell to 34.3% from June’s 36%.
HDFC Bank continued to lead the pack in terms of credit card spending, achieving a total of Rs 39,403 crore for the month.
Steady rise
July also saw a steady rise in card additions, with a 1.3% increase compared to the previous month’s 1.1% growth in June. The credit card industry recorded a net addition of 11.9 lakh cards during July, surpassing the figure of 9.4 lakh cards added in June. However, his figure fell short of the substantial net additions of over 12 lakh credit cards each in April and May.
By the end of July, the total number of credit cards in circulation stood at 8.99 crore. Credit cards in circulation as of March 2023 numbered 8.5 crore, reflecting a notable 15.9% increase for the fiscal year.
Among the card issuers, Axis Bank led the way with the highest increase in the number of cards, net adding 2.30 lakh cards in July, bringing their total to 1.25 crore cards as of July 2023. This represented a significant jump from the previous month when Axis Bank added only 41,019 cards—far less than the 1.96 lakh cards added in May.
SBI followed suit by adding 2.07 lakh cards, increasing their total card count to 1.76 crore. HDFC Bank continued to maintain its position as the largest card issuer, adding 1.91 lakh cards in the month to achieve a total of 1.85 crore cards. ICICI Bank added 1.86 lakh cards, bringing their total to 1.50 crore cards.
Spending jump
Among the top four credit card issuers, ICICI Bank saw the most substantial rise in spending, experiencing a notable growth of 12.2%, amounting to Rs 25,857 crore. On the other hand, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and Axis Bank witnessed spending increases ranging from 2% to 5%.
Other major issuers, including Bank of Baroda, Union Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and Federal Bank, also witnessed substantial growth in their credit card spending during July.
In the fiscal year 2022-2023, the total credit card spends amounted to ₹14.3 lakh crore, representing a remarkable 47% year-on-year increase.
