India's credit card spending grows 2.6% to Rs 2.02 trillion in May

Credit card spending in India rose 2.6% month-on-month to Rs 2.02 trillion in May 2026, says a report. While digital payments grow, UPI continues to dominate with a 77.1% share, while the credit card share declined to 17.9%.

Credit card spending in India rose 2.6 per cent month-on-month to in May 2026 and is expected to remain in the range of Rs 2.0 trillion-2.1 trillion in June, according to a report by Equirus Securities.

The report noted credit card spending increased by 2.6 per cent month-on-month in May 2026 to Rs 2.02 trillion. It further highlighted continued strength in digital payment adoption, with overall digital payments to merchants rising around 21 per cent year-on-year to Rs 11.3 trillion in May.

UPI Dominates Digital Payments

Also, UPI person-to-merchant (P2M) spending rose 25.2 per cent year-on-year in May 2026, while credit card spending increased 6.6 per cent. "UPI P2M/credit card transactions increased 25.2%/6.6% yoy to Rs 8.7trn/Rs 2.02trn," it said.

It further noted that UPI person-to-merchant transactions continued to dominate merchant digital payments, accounting for 77.1 per cent of the total in May 2026, marking an increase of 286 basis points compared with the same period a year earlier. In contrast, the share of credit card spending in overall merchant digital payments stood at 17.9 per cent, reflecting a decline of 235 basis points year-on-year.

Credit Card Market Landscape

Apart from this, the number of credit cards in force (CIF) increased by 1.018 million during the month, taking the total outstanding card base to 120.5 million. Top four credit card issuers saw their combined share of cards in force declining by around 14 basis points month-on-month in May 2026, while their share of total credit card spending fell by about 31 basis points, the report said.

E-commerce Leads Spending Patterns

Additionally, e-commerce accounted for 62.4 per cent of total credit card spending in May 2026, largely unchanged from 62.6 per cent in the previous month. Average monthly spending per credit card stood at around Rs 10,500 for e-commerce transactions and Rs 6,300 for point-of-sale (POS) purchases.

However, the average e-commerce transaction value was higher at about Rs 4,300, compared with around Rs 2,600 for POS transactions.

June Spending Outlook

Overall, as per the Reserve Bank of India's daily payment statistics, credit card spending in June 2026 is expected to remain broadly stable and is likely to be in the range of around Rs 2.0 trillion to Rs 2.1 trillion, the report added. "Based on RBI's daily data on payment statistics, we expect Jun'26 credit card spends at ~Rs 2.0-2.1 trn," it said. (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)