Before the pandemic hit in February last year, credit card spend was recorded at Rs 62,902 crore. Bankers expect spending to increase further in October and November.
Parag Rao, Group Head – Payments, Consumer Finance, digital banking, And this, HDFC bank.
HDFC Bank, the market leader in this segment, spent Rs 20,650 crore in August. Its total cards are worth Rs 1.47 crore.
Banks are aggressively offering credit cards to customers and the Indian economy has turned a corner and retail spending has increased. The latest festive sales figures show that customers are saving to spend during the festive season, with smartphones and other electronics and gadgets registering the highest spending.
Peer private lender ICICI Bank also recorded a stellar August beating SBI cards in card spends. Making a steady increase in spending month after month, the lender had spent Rs 15,271 crore. In July, it had spent Rs 14,355 crore. The bank also added 2 lakh new cards in August, taking its total number to 1.14 crore.
There has also been an increase in card additions and spends in SBI Cards taking the total credit cards to 1.24 crores. Its expenditure increased to Rs 1,4553 crore at the end of August from Rs 14,370 crore in July.
Axis Bank also spent Rs 6848 crore on cards, while the total number of cards increased by over Rs 73 lakh.
Retail loans, despite the relaxation of restrictions, grew by a mere 1.2% month-on-month in July 2021 after growing 2.6% month-on-month. On a lower basis, year-over-year growth improved and traction reached 12.1%.
“This was primarily led by the traction it gained in vehicle loans, personal loans and credit cards. Kunal Shah, ICICI Securities said, “Now that most parts of the economy are showing normalization, we believe retail credit growth is likely to remain above 10-12 per cent.” “The credit card segment experienced the sharpest recovery as activity levels revived and a similar trend was witnessed in the last two months post the second wave of COVID-19.”