Urban india's ownership of credit cards increases as income rises

The Indian Financial Scape survey, conducted by Delhi-based economics research firm Indicus Analytics, tracks patterns of financial asset ownership of urban India. In its sixth issue, we look at credit card ownership. The data is split across income groups and regional variations. At least 35,000 households were surveyed across urban India over the period April-June 2012. At the end of nine weeks, the survey will reveal what drives financial asset ownership in urban India. Data on credit cards shows that as urban household income increases so does the ownership of credit cards. In the lowest income category of upto ₹ 75,000, the average card holding is less than 1%. It rises to just under 5% in the next income bracket of income upto ₹ 5 lakh. In the higher income categories of ₹ 20 lakh and above, the average ownership is around 62%. If we look at zone wise card ownership, the western region is again ahead of its peers in credit card ownership as it has been with other financial products, with average ownership of almost 30% compared with just over 26% in the east, north and south.

Key takeaways:

1. The pan-India ownership of credit cards for urban households is at 27.65%.

2. In the lowest income group of below ₹ 75,000, the average ownership is below 0.63%.