Indian credit cardholders in August spent 80.8 billion rupees (US$1.6 billion or 1.2 billion euros), up 29% from 62.6 billion rupees during the same month last year, according to new data from the Reserve Bank of India.
Customers initiated 27.7 million credit card transactions, up 26.5% from 21.9 million, while the number of credit cards in circulation as of the end of August fell 6.9%, to 17.6 million from 18.9 million a year earlier.
Mrinalini Manral, a Mumbai-based banking analyst, tells PaymentsSource that the numbers show the effect of banks tightening underwriting criteria and issuing fewer cards.
“As I have said before, this is basically because banks have now shifted to a new strategy of targeting premium customers and shedding risky accounts,” she says, adding that the months of September and October will show increased spending because of India’s festive season.
Meanwhile, debit card sales volume in August increased 37.9%, to 45.6 billion rupees from 33.2 billion rupees a year earlier. Debit card transaction volume increased 35.1%, to 27.7 million from 20.5 million, the central bank says.
Indian financial institutions had issued 251.5 million debit cards as of the end of August, up 25.6% from 200 million a year earlier.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
