After the record jump in the previous months driven by festive spending, overall credit card spends fell sharply in November to Rs 1.88 trillion, down by 11.9% on-month, indicating pressure on discretionary consumption amid a high base when the total spends had crossed the Rs 2 trillion mark.
All major issuers saw the spend on their cards declining, with Axis Bank seeing it falling by 15.9%, ICICI Bank by 15.8% and State Bank of India to the tune of 15.2%, while the market leader HDFC Bank saw its spends declining by a moderate 10%. In contrast, Federal Bank stood out, reporting an 8% on-month increase in card spends.
After crossing the Rs 2-trillion in September and October, amid festive spends and the GST rate cuts, credit card spending eased to Rs 1.89 trillion in November with major issuers reporting on-month declines.
As a result, all the major credit issuers saw a drop in spending. The largest issuer, HDFC Bank, saw a 10.33% on-month decline in spending to Rs 55,552.27 crore from Rs 61,955 crore in October. SBI Cards’ transactions declined by 15.16% to Rs 33,936 crore, ICICI Bank saw a 13.64% drop to Rs 34,159 crore and Axis Bank recorded a nearly 16% fall to Rs 20,526.4 crore, according to the latest data from the Reserve Bank.
However, the number of outstanding credit cards rose marginally to 114.9 million from to 114.02 million in October. The largest credit card issuer, HDFC Bank's customer base stood at 25.64 million, while SBI’s came second with 21.74 million, followed by ICICI Bank at 18.58 million and Axis Bank at 15.57 million cards.
The outstanding credit cards rose 7.13% on-year from 107.23 million in November 2024.
September saw the credit card spending hitting a record high of Rs 2.17 trillion, up a significant 23% on-year fueled by festive season demand, aggressive bank offers, and GST rate cuts boosting discretionary spending. On a on-month basis, the growth was 14% from August and the average spend per card also increased to Rs 19,144, up 15%.
The trend continued into October as well with spending rising by 6% on-year but decreased marginally by 1.1% on-month to Rs 2.15 trillion.
The total share of credit card outstanding balances in retail loans stood at Rs 2.82 trillion in September, up by 3.6% on-year compared to Rs 2.27 trillion a year ago.
The uneven performance in November also resulted in market share shifts, with HDFC Bank gaining 50 bps during the month while SBI, Axis Bank and ICICI Bank, however, lost market share by 70 bps, 52 bps and 36 bps respectively.
Among mid-sized lenders, Federal Bank gained 16 bps while Indusind Bank recovered 21 bps after losing significant share between July and October.
Transaction volumes mirrored the spending trend, declining by 3% on-month but rising 27.3% on-year on a low base. Axis Bank recorded the steepest monthly decline in volumes at 7%, followed by SBI at 5%, while HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank saw 3% decline each. Federal Bank again outperformed, posting a 39% on-month increase in transaction volumes, translating into a 46 bps market share gain.
Card issuance, however, remained steady. About 0.85 million new cards were issued in November, taking total active cards to 114.9 million.
HDFC Bank led additions among large banks with 0.21 million new cards, followed by SBI and ICICI Bank at 0.11 million each, and Axis Bank at 0.07 million. Federal Bank added 0.12 million cards, ahead of IDFC First Bank, which issued 0.08 million cards.
Federal Bank emerged as the highest market share gainer in card issuance during the month, with a 9 bps increase. On an annual basis, HDFC Bank remained the largest gainer, expanding its market share by 103 bps to 22.3% in November, followed by SBI.
The divergence between rising card issuance and declining spending led to a sharp deterioration in efficiency metrics. Average spend per card fell 12.5% on-month, while average spend per transaction declined 9.1% sequentially and 12.4% on-year, underscoring near-term pressure on card usage despite continued expansion.