India adds 1.26 million credit cards in July

India's credit-card issuers experienced a surge in card additions in July, introducing a net 1.26 million cards, marking an 11.5% increase from June, according to Reserve Bank of India data. Despite a 7.4% year-on-year rise in credit-card spending to ₹2.08 lakh crore and a 3.4% month-on-month increase, transaction volumes surged 24.5% year-on-year to 605.3 million, outpacing spending growth.

Consequently, the average transaction value dropped nearly 14% to around ₹3,440 from ₹3,987. HDFC Bank led July's additions with 230,067 cards, followed by SBI Card and ICICI Bank, while Federal Bank and IndusInd Bank also reported significant growth. Public-sector banks' credit-card spending surged 22% year-on-year to ₹46,159 crore, capturing 22.2% of industry expenditure, while private-sector banks' spending grew 2.8% to ₹1.50 lakh crore, holding a 72.1% share.