In January, Indians spent Rs 1.99 lakh crore through credit lines offered by their banks, down from Rs 2.05 lakh crore in the previous month, but higher than the Rs 1.82 lakh crore they had spent last January.
“Credit card spending growth moderated in January, marking a natural cooldown after the festive surge,” said Sweta Padhi, analyst, IDBI Capital. “Industrywide growth has slowed from the midteen levels seen last year, with the festive spike reverting to the 8% range and yet to see a meaningful revival.”
The number of active cards rose to 116.6 million, while net new additions slowed to 868,000, compared with more than 900,000 in December 2025. The slower pace of additions reflects tighter underwriting standards and regulatory discipline. Large private banks, however, remained the key contributors to incremental card additions.
RATHER CIRCUMSPECT
“The broader deceleration in card additions reflects tighter underwriting norms and regulatory caution around unsecured lending,” Padhi said. “While near-term momentum appears steady rather than weakening, we expect growth to remain calibrated, with issuers focusing on portfolio quality, activation levels and fee-based income rather than aggressive expansion.”
Among individual issuers, HDFC Bank added 310,000 cards, while ICICI Bank added 122,000. SBI Cards added 92,226 cards and Axis Bank added 87,912. Kotak Mahindra Bank, which has been gradually reviving its credit card business, added 35,968 cards. IndusInd Bank, however, continued to see a rundown in its card base, with total net cards declining by more than 100,000.
“Our credit card business is currently stalled and we are cautious, as system-wide risks remain elevated,” Rajiv Anand, MD & CEO, IndusInd Bank, told ET in a recent interview.
“We have recently hired a new head of credit cards to re-evaluate the portfolio from both customer and product perspectives. We intend to reignite the business once our systems and processes are fully stabilised. Once we get things right, we will grow that business again.”
Transaction volumes remained flat sequentially but recorded a robust 25% YoY growth, indicating resilient usage trends despite moderation in overall spends. While private sector banks continue to dominate market share and remain relatively risk-averse, public-sector banks (PSBs) are gradually expanding their share of credit card spending. This growth has been driven by higher usage among existing cardholders, strong festive demand and deeper penetration into salaried customer segments. The share of PSBs in credit card spending increased 4.5 percentage points year-on-year to 22.2% in December 2025, according to RBI data, largely led by major lenders.