Credit card transactions soared 11% to ₹9.30 trillion between June-Dec 2023: Report

Amid the digital revolution era in the country, credit card transactions remained second-favourite among citizens for payments after the UPI system. Whereas, debit card payments remained sluggish. The credit card transactions saw an 11% rise between June and December 2023 in India, according to a report by Worldline.

The number of debit card transactions in the second half of 2023 were 1.15 billion- a 34% drop against. On the other hand, credit card transactions were 1.78 billion, a 21% spike in contrast to H2 2022.

Of the total card transactions of ₹12.66 trillion between June-December 2023, the payment value via credit cards accounted for ₹9.29 trillion (11% up from H2 2022) while the debit card transaction value stood at ₹3.02 trillion- a fall of 16%.

Although the UPI transaction has begun to dominate on both Point of Sale (PoS) and online channels, credit card spending has also surged due to increased consumption of higher-value goods and services in the country, the report noted.

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Credit card and debit card issuance

A total of 97.9 million credit cards and 960.8 million debit cards were issued in December 2023. The report underscored that 71% of credit cards were issued by private sector banks and 24% were by public sector banks. Whereas, the government-backed nabks issued 65% of the debit cards and 24% private lenders.

UPI- a ubiquitous payment choice

The UPI transactions volume between June and December 2023 increased to 65.77 billion as compared to 42.09 billion in the same period in 2022.

The value of transactions also increased by 44% from ₹69.36 trillion (H2 2022) to ₹99.68 trillion (H2 2023).

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PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm remained the dominant players in the UPI system. The three applications accounted for 95.4% of all transactions compared to 94.8% in 2022.

Mobile payments in India

The mobile payments, which are transactions done by mobile phone apps, have also seen a solid growth. The volume of mobile transactions from June to December 2023 was 62.95 billion compared to 45.58 billion in the same period in 2022. The value of mobile transactions in H2 2023 was ₹152.33 trillion.

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"UPI maintains its position as the uncontested frontrunner, buoyed by substantial expansion in mobile transactions. This trend underscores users' growing confidence and familiarity with smartphone-based payment methods. The proliferation of Point of Sale terminals has reached unprecedented levels, concurrent with the ascendance of mobile payments as a dominant transaction avenue. This underscores the necessity for FinTechs to adjust to a diverse array of payment channels," Ramesh Narasimhan, CEO, Worldline said.