MUMBAI: Standard credit card users are catching up with premium credit card holder In terms of spending in the first six months of 2022. Standard’s Average Ticket Size Credit Card Transactions grew 67 per cent to Rs 7,290 in January-June this year from Rs 4,368 last year. In the same period, the ticket size of high-end credit cards has gone up only to Rs 7,580 as compared to Rs 7,282 last year.

Fischer (formerly First Data), the largest processor of credit cards for banks, analyzed these transactions, which it handled in the first six months of 2022, compared to the same period last year. Fiserv processes card transactions for seven of the top 12 card issuers and hosts over 80 million cards from India on its platform.

“We are seeing higher spending. We believe it is a combination of factors. It could be that cardholders are more comfortable making purchases on credit, it could also be that things are getting more expensive. For example, a full tank of petrol will cost a lot more than last year,” said Rishi Chhabra, country head and MD, India and Sri Lanka at Fisher.

According to the analysis, fast food restaurant and apparel and accessory store spending increased by 230%, while fuel station spending increased by 140%. People are using their cards more for essentials, resulting in a 127% and 122% increase in grocery store and utility payment spending, respectively.

According to Chhabra, an increase in credit card dues in India does not necessarily indicate rising debt. RBI data showed that credit card dues rose to Rs 1.63 lakh crore in July this year from Rs 1.26 lakh crore in July 2021.

“The number of cards issued on our platform has increased by 36%. Also, people are using cards for certain transactions where they were using cash earlier. Besides, the prices have increased,” Chhabra said. An interesting trend is that online is growing rapidly even after the pandemic is over. credit card spend Points of sale in stores increased by 70% year-on-year, while online credit card usage increased by 103%. “Online transactions include e-commerce purchases and utility bills including any other payment made using online payment gateways,” Chhabra said.