Credit card spends fell to ₹1.33-lakh crore in April 2023, down 3.3 per cent from the record high of ₹1.37-lakh crore seen in the previous month, as per data released by the Reserve Bank of India.

As per the data, 61 per cent of the credit card spends during the month were for e-commerce payments, and 39 per cent were for PoS (point-of-sale) transactions.

Most major issuers saw a decline of 1.4-5.4 per cent in spends during the month, barring HDFC Bank which saw a marginal increase of 0.9 per cent to ₹37,957 crore — the highest in the industry. It was followed by State Bank of India which saw credit cards spends worth ₹24,291 crore and ICICI Bank worth ₹22,667 crore.

Credit card spends had surged 15 per cent month-on-month in March owing to a small base in the shorter February and due to high discretionary and financial-year end spending.

Spends have now stayed over the ₹1-lakh crore mark for the 14th consecutive month. Total credit card spends in FY23 were ₹14.3-lakh crore, 47 per cent higher on year.

12 lakh cards added

The industry net added over 12 lakh credit cards in April, taking total cards-in-force to 8.7 crore, 1.4 per cent higher on month. Credit cards-in-force as of March 31 had stood at 8.5 crore, up 15.9 per cent for FY23.

HDFC Bank led the increase in cards-in-force, adding 3.4 lakh cards during April on a net basis, taking outstanding cards to 1.8 crore and retaining its spot as the top credit card issuer in the country.

It was followed by another private sector major Axis Bank, which net added 1.4 lakh cards during the month taking total cards to 1.2 crore cards. ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and RBL Bank also saw net additions of over 1 lakh credit cards during the month.

On the other hand, issuers such as Bank of Baroda, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Indian Bank saw a decline in their credit cards-in-force.

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