Credit Card Apply: Credit card outstanding increased by 29.6 per cent to an all-time high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore in January 2023 on the back of increasing consumer confidence and rapid digitization after the Kovid-19 pandemic. According to the latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, credit card dues increased by more than 20 percent during the first 10 months of the current financial year. The maximum increase was 30.7 percent in June.

Credit cards

Rama Mohan Rao Amara, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SBI Card, said, "Due to the digitization of many categories, existing customers are spending more through their credit cards." He said that with ease. The convenience of making payments has certainly contributed to the growth, especially in categories such as health and fitness, education, water and electricity bills, etc.

Credit Card Spending

Talking about the monthly trends in credit card usage, Rao said that there has been a steady increase in credit card spending over the past few months. In January this year, Rs 1.28 lakh crore was spent through credit cards, which was Rs 1.26 lakh crore in December 2022. Rao said that this increase is 45 percent on an annual basis and for the last 11 months, the expenditure on credit cards has remained more than one lakh crore rupees.

By the end of January

2023, various banks had issued about 8.25 crore credit cards. The top five banks in the country in terms of issuing credit cards are HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Bank. Reserve Bank data also shows that the annual growth in credit card outstanding stood at 29.6 per cent in January 2023, which was around 10 per cent in the same month a year ago. The outstanding amount in January 2022 was Rs 1,41,254 crore, which increased to Rs 1,86,783 crore in January 2023.