India’s credit card base expands 9.5% y-o-y in September; spending moderates on high base: Jefferies

Domestic credit cards’ growth remained healthy at 9.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), even as overall spending across the sector declined on account of an elevated base from the previous year, according to a report by Jefferies.

The total cards-in-force (CIF) across the industry expanded to 123.8 million during September 2026, advancing from 9 per cent recorded in August 2026. However, total credit card spending fell 6.2 per cent y-o-y during the month, compared to a growth of 5.5 per cent registered in the previous month.

Sequentially, overall industry spending recorded an increase of 0.7 per cent month-on-month (MoM) to reach ₹2 trillion. "The decline in spending on a YoY basis mostly reflected a higher base last year boosted by post-GST spending and an earlier timing of festive season," the Jefferies report said. The report detailed that individual issuers showed varied performance in circulation and spend volumes. SBI Cards saw its cards-in-force growth improve marginally to 7.7 per cent y-o-y from 7.6 per cent, maintaining an overall market share of 19 per cent.

The company added 0.21 million cards during September compared to 0.19 million in August, which accounted for an 18 per cent share of total industry net additions. As per the report, across other major market participants, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank posted card growth of 8 per cent y-o-y each, Axis Bank advanced by 7 per cent, while card volumes at IndusInd Bank contracted by 6 per cent y-o-y.

Highlighting the spending contraction and volume distribution for SBI Cards, the report noted that "SBI Cards” spending fell 14 per cent y-o-y in Sept, and its share of industry spending fell 33bps MoM to 17.2 per cent. Its share of online spending fell 84bps, MoM, to 16 per cent, while its share of POS spending rose 52bps MoM to 18.5 per cent. "Among competing lenders, HDFC Bank registered a 167 basis points MoM increase in total spending share to reach 32 per cent, while ICICI Bank witnessed an 81 basis points decline to 15 per cent.

Axis Bank maintained an overall stable share of around 11 per cent. "SBI Cards' spending per card moderated to ₹15.1k in Sep-26 (₹15.4k Aug-26), below the industry average of ₹16.4k SBI Cards' online ticket size was stable MoM ₹2.4k, below the industry average of ₹4.1k, while POS ticket size at ₹5.9k (₹5.4k Aug 26) was above the industry average of ₹2.7k," the report said. HDFC Bank recorded an increase in spending per card to ₹23,800 from ₹22,600, whereas spends per card softened on a monthly basis across most other primary issuers.

At the same time, the industry receivables-to-spends ratio on a trailing three-month basis rose 10 basis points MoM to 12.3 per cent in August 2026. Broader retail digital transactions, excluding NEFT, registered a 16.4 per cent YoY increase to ₹44 trillion during the period. Within this category, credit cards accounted for 4.64 per cent of total retail digital spending, marking a sequential rise of 12 basis points despite contracting by 110 basis points compared to the corresponding period last year.