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<\/p>\nCredit card spending dropped 11 per cent sequentially in November at Rs 1.15 trillion, but topped Rs 1 trillion for the ninth month straight, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed as the festive season ends and consumption activity slows down.<\/p>\n
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Year-on-year (YoY), spending was up 29 per cent.<\/p>\n
Card spends have consistently topped the Rs 1 trillion mark, led by the rising share of e-commerce transactions.<\/p>\n
Travel and hospitality spending has come back strongly after being subdued in the coronavirus pandemic, aiding growth in credit card spends, experts said.<\/p>\n
Credit card spends touched an all-time high of Rs 1.29 trillion in October, driven by the festive season and consumption activity.<\/p>\n
HDFC Bank saw a 13 per cent drop sequentially in its credit card spends value; ICICI Bank’s spends fell 15 per cent, and Axis Bank saw an 8 per cent drop. SBI Card witnessed an almost 10 per cent sequential drop in spends.<\/p>\n
The banking industry added about 1.3 million cards, taking the total to 80.66 million as of November.<\/p>\n
In October, the industry added about 1.66 million credit cards.<\/p>\n
On average, the industry has been witnessing a net addition of over 1.5 million credit cards monthly as companies became aggressive in the unsecured lending business after the pandemic.<\/p>\n
The progress excludes the two months when the industry saw a net reduction in credit cards as RBI’s norms kicked in.<\/p>\n
The norms mandated card issuers to deactivate credit cards inactive for a year.<\/p>\n
The net addition of cards in November was led by SBI Card with 388,438 cards, taking its base to 15.55 million.<\/p>\n
HDFC Bank, the largest credit card issuer in the country, came second by adding 236,101 cards and taking its total to 16.78 million.<\/p>\n
Axis Bank added 207,825 cards during this period, taking its card tally to 9.29 million.<\/p>\n
ICICI Bank, on the other hand, saw a net reduction of 106,000 cards.<\/p>\n
Its outstanding credit card base fell to 13.43 million.<\/p>\n