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Credit card spending in India rose sharply to \u20b92.19 lakh crore in March 2026, marking a strong 23.8% month-on-month (MoM) increase, though annual growth remained relatively subdued at 8.9% year-on-year (YoY). The sequential spike was largely driven by year-end seasonality and a low base effect, rather than a broad-based recovery in consumption, the monthly credit card report for March 2026 from Asit C. Mehta Investment Intermediates stated.\u00a0<\/p>
At the issuer level, HDFC Bank consolidated its leadership, achieving a record ~30% share in total credit card spends, the highest in recent years. Meanwhile, State Bank of India (SBI) emerged as a key outperformer, delivering 31% YoY growth in spends and expanding its market share by over 300 basis points to 19.3%, reflecting strong momentum in both acquisition and usage.\u00a0<\/p>
Spending growth<\/strong><\/p> Despite the strong sequential uptick, underlying consumption trends remain moderate. The industry continues to show a divergence between robust card issuance and muted spend growth, suggesting that incremental growth is being driven more by new customer additions rather than higher per-user spending.\u00a0<\/p> MUST READ:\u00a0Tax alert: Credit card spending can invite notices \u2014 How to avoid penalties<\/strong><\/p> Transaction volumes<\/strong><\/p> The total number of credit cards in force reached 118 million, reflecting an 8% YoY increase, indicating continued expansion of the credit card ecosystem. Monthly issuance remained healthy at around 0.9 million cards, highlighting sustained onboarding momentum.\u00a0<\/p> Transaction volumes also remained strong at 574 million, registering 16.9% MoM growth and 25.4% YoY growth. This suggests that while average spending per user remains stable, usage frequency is increasing, pointing to deeper penetration of cards in everyday transactions.\u00a0<\/p> MUST READ:\u00a0Now control your auto-debit payments: RBI\u2019s new rules explained<\/strong><\/p> Mid-sized banks<\/strong><\/p> While large private banks continue to dominate overall market share, mid-sized players are gaining traction. Federal Bank reported a sharp 130% YoY growth in transaction volumes, supported by aggressive card issuance strategies. Similarly, IDFC First Bank recorded 28% YoY growth in cards in force, steadily improving its market position.\u00a0 This indicates a broadening competitive landscape, with smaller banks leveraging targeted strategies to capture incremental market share.<\/p> MUST READ:\u00a0Credit card rewards reset: HDFC, SBI, Axis cut perks; what it means for you<\/strong><\/p> Spending behaviour<\/strong><\/p> Average spending metrics present a mixed picture. Average spend per card rose 22.8% MoM, reflecting seasonal demand, but remained largely flat on a YoY basis (+0.9%), underscoring the lack of strong consumption growth.<\/p> SBI stood out again, reporting a 23% YoY increase in average spend per card, indicating stronger engagement among its cardholders. In contrast, ICICI Bank saw flat growth, while Kotak Mahindra Bank recorded a decline in spends, highlighting divergence among top issuers.<\/p> Overall, the credit card industry appears to be transitioning from a high-growth consumption phase to a more normalised trajectory. While card issuance and transaction volumes remain healthy, spending growth is stabilising in single digits, pointing to a maturing market environment.<\/p> <\/div> #Credit #card #spends #jump #lakh #crore #March #HDFC #hits #record #share #SBI #outperforms1777368088<\/p> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Credit card spending in India rose sharply to \u20b92.19 lakh crore in March 2026, marking a strong 23.8% month-on-month (MoM) increase, though annual growth remained relatively subdued at 8.9% year-on-year (YoY). The sequential spike was largely driven by year-end seasonality and a low base effect, rather than a broad-based recovery in consumption, the monthly credit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[1120,1119,1131,7586,442,2357,2052,1178,11729,2012,1514,495,27466],"class_list":["post-7338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content-marketing","tag-card","tag-credit","tag-crore","tag-hdfc","tag-hits","tag-jump","tag-lakh","tag-march","tag-outperforms","tag-record","tag-sbi","tag-share","tag-spends"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/longzhuplatform.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}