India credit & debit card usage on the rise

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By: Wise Marketer Staff |

Posted on May 16, 2018

The vast potential associated with India's credit and debit card usage has been well documented for years. How high it can go is anyone’s guess. As loyalty marketers we pay attention to credit/debit usage stats because so many card products have a loyalty value proposition attached to them; or they act as an accelerator to earning loyalty benefits when the member transacts using these products; or they partner with airlines, hotels, casinos and other loyalty programs in affinity card deals. India is certainly no exception to the payment card – loyalty program symbiosis and a new report using data sourced to the Reserve Bank reveals the card market continues to grow year-over-year.

A new report issued by Medianama, using credit and debit card data from the Reserve Bank of India, reveals that in March 2018 a total of 37.48 million credit cards were in operation, with the addition of 0.55 million cards in the current month.

The number of debit cards in use had increased to 861 million, with 5.6 million new cardholders in the current month.

Between March 2017 and March 2018, India added some 7.68 million credit and 6.18 million debit cards.

The number of transactions on debit hit an all-time high of 318.9 million in March, a 17.6% increase vs. a year ago. Credit transactions were reported at 127.3 million, a near record level, and 19.8% higher than a year ago.

The total amount transacted through credit cards was Rs 44,308 crore in March 2018, a 35% increase vs. a year ago. The amount transacted through debit cards went up by 17% during the same time with a March 2018 total value of Rs 41,857 crore.

The average value per transaction on credit reached a record high in March 2018 at Rs 3,481 per transaction, 12.4% higher than a year ago. Average values on debit were Rs 1,313 per transaction and appear to be range bound since mid-2017.

Charts and commentary are available here.

A new wave of loyalty value propositions may be on the horizon. Stay tuned!