Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) led the banking system in fresh credit card issuances in January ahead of market leader HDFC Bank. SBI issued 330,000 credit cards during the month, with total outstanding cards at 16.2 million.
HDFC Bank followed with addition of 230,000 credit cards, taking the total to 17.2 million credit cards. ICICI Bank added 130,000 credit cards, with total outstanding cards to 13.7 million.
The total credit cards outstanding of all banks put together stood at 82.5 million, higher by 1.6% compared to the previous month.
Per card spends fell by 0.6% in January to `15,532.4 despite an increase in overall spending on credit cards. In value terms, credit card spends increased by 1% during the month to `1.28 trillion. On the other hand, credit volumes improved 1.4% in January to 26 crore transactions.
HDFC Bank saw a 2.6% decline in per card spends to `20,511 while that of SBI rose 0.2% to `15,016. ICICI Bank’s per card spending increased 4.3% during the month under review to `15,981.
The revolver rates, one that the borrower has to pay if they don’t pay the entire outstanding amount, of market leaders HDFC Bank and SBI are yet to reach pre-pandemic levels
