FY26 card spends up 12% to ₹23.62 trillion
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Credit card additions inched up by 0.79 per cent M-o-M to 118.63 million from 117.7 million, and rose by 7.96 per cent Y-o-Y from 109.88 million in March 2025 | Image Credit: Bloomberg
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Credit card spending in March surged to a three-month high of ₹2.19 trillion on the back of year-end financial transactions, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In the financial year 2025-26 (FY26) spending rose by 11.98 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to ₹23.62 trillion from nearly ₹21.09 trillion in FY25.
After dropping to the lowest level in FY26 in February, card spend increased by 23.81 per cent month-on-month (MoM) from ₹1.77 trillion.
In March, the point of sale (PoS) spending rose by 16.36 per cent M-o-M to ₹78,470 crore, higher than ₹67,435 crore in February 2026. E-commerce payments grew by 28.38 per cent M-o-M to ₹1.41 trillion compared with nearly ₹1.10 trillion in February 2026.
Among the banks, HDFC Bank’s spending increased 29.62 per cent MoM to ₹65,337.7 crore, SBI Cards spending rose by 24.43 per cent MoM to ₹42,441.83 crore; ICICI Bank saw 19.6 per cent MoM growth in spending to ₹36,521.88 crore and Axis Bank witnessed 26.35 per cent MoM growth in spending to ₹23,909.68 crore.
“The credit card spending in March is generally high due to the financial year end spending. In FY26, public sector banks have also increased their market share in spending. Private sector banks are growing the business in risk-calibrated fashion and have also reduced the benefits provided on credit cards in the year. Some of the bigger banks are focusing on cross-selling their credit card portfolio to their home loan customers,” said Saurabh Bhalerao, associate director, CareEdge Ratings.
Nearly 23 per cent of HDFC Bank’s home loan customers have its credit cards, which are active, the bank’s management said during its earnings call. HDFC Bank accounts for nearly 21-22 per cent credit card issuances in the system and around 26-28 per cent of credit card spend in the market.
Credit card additions inched up by 0.79 per cent M-o-M to 118.63 million from 117.7 million, and rose by 7.96 per cent Y-o-Y from 109.88 million in March 2025. The growth in card additions has been slow this year and in FY25 compared with FY24.
The industry grew cautious over the rise in delinquencies which led to a slowdown in card issuances. Credit card additions were up 19 per cent Y-o-Y at the end of March 2024. They were up only around 8 per cent Y-o-Y at the end of March 2025, with similar growth seen as of end-March 2026.
While HDFC Bank’s card issuance increased by 10.37 per cent Y-o-Y to 26.31 million at March-end 2026, that of ICICI Bank rose by 4.62 per cent Y-o-Y to 19.05 million, SBI Cards reported a 6.12 per cent Y-o-Y rise to nearly 22.10 million and Axis Bank’s card issuance increased 7.56 per cent Y-o-Y to 16.03 million.
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