Credit card expenditures experienced a significant increase of 38.3% year-on-year, reaching an unprecedented value of Rs 1.8 trillion in October. This surge was mainly supported by robust spending during the festive season. October witnessed the highest year-on-year growth in expenditure among the past nine months, with a remarkable rise of 25.4% on a month-on-month basis, which represents the highest increase in two years.

Furthermore, the average spend per card rose by nearly 16% year-on-year, reaching a record high of Rs 18,898 in October. On a month-on-month comparison, it showed an impressive growth of 23.2%. It is worth noting that approximately 65% of credit card expenses are made online. Online transactions often involve larger amounts compared to the overall average, and convenient features such as no-cost EMI have gained significant popularity in recent times.

What does the RBI credit card usage data reveal?

In October, the volume of online transactions experienced a year-on-year increase of 39%, while the value of these transactions rose by 55.1%.

Notably, spends on HDFC Bank credit cards saw a 20.3% year-on-year growth, reaching Rs. 45,296 crore. SBI Card spends also witnessed a significant increase of nearly 52% to Rs. 35,459 crore. Axis Bank, on the other hand, recorded the highest annual growth in credit card spends, with an impressive 92% year-on-year rise to Rs. 21,767 crore in October.

As of October 31, the total number of cards in force reached 94.7 million, registering a year-on-year increase of 19.3%. Looking ahead, experts believe that the wider adoption of new products, such as the RuPay credit card on the unified payments interface (UPI), will further boost overall spending.

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