Credit card spends rise 27% to ₹18.26 lakh crore in FY24: RBI

Credit card spending saw a substantial 27% increase year-on-year (YoY), reaching ₹18.26 lakh crore crore in the financial year 2023-24 compared to nearly ₹14 lakh crore in the previous year, as per data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).In March 2024 alone, overall credit card expenditures (both online and offline) surged by approximately 10.07% to ₹1.64 lakh crore crore from ₹1.49 lakh crore in February, mainly due to year-end financial activities and heightened sales during the festive season in March.

During the month, online credit card spending in India reached ₹1.04 lakh crore, marking a 20% increase from the previous year's figure of ₹86,390 crore in March 2023 and a 10% rise from ₹94,774 crore in February 2024.

On the other hand, debit card transactions saw a significant drop, falling by 30% in physical stores to 11.6 crore and by 41% in online transactions to 4.3 crore in March 2024. This decline was reflected in the transaction values as well, with a 17% decrease in physical store transactions to ₹29,309 crore and a 16% reduction in online transactions to ₹15,213 crore.

Point-of-sale (POS) transactions increased by 28% YoY to 18 crore in March, whereas online payments saw a 33% surge to 16.4 crore. Breaking down the March spending, PoS transactions in India rose to ₹60,378 crore from ₹54,431.48 crore in February, while e-commerce payments increased to ₹1.05 lakh crore from ₹95,000 crore.

Key players in the credit card market, such as HDFC Bank, saw 8.57% rise in usage to ₹43,471.29 crore in March from ₹40,288.51 crore in February.

Axis Bank saw an 8.05% increase in transactions, reaching ₹18,941.31 crore in March from ₹17,528.97 crore in February. Similarly, ICICI Bank observed transaction growth of 14.49%, totaling ₹30,733.11 crore in March compared to ₹26,843.03 crore in February. SBI Card also experienced a 7.32% rise in transactions, reaching ₹24,949.17 crore.

The total number of credit cards issued by Indian banks reached 10.1 crore in March 2024 from 10.06 crore in February, with HDFC Bank leading in card issuance at 2.059 crore, followed by SBI Card at 1.88 crore, ICICI Bank at 1.69 crore, and Axis Bank at 1.421 crore.