Credit card spending in India rose 7.06% year‑on‑year to Rs 1.97 trillion in April 2026 from Rs 1.84 trillion a year earlier, according to Reserve Bank of India data. The figure represents a moderation from the March 2026 monthly peak of Rs 2.19 trillion, when fiscal year‑end activity pushed spending higher.
Major issuers continued to consolidate market share in the wake of the latest data, with HDFC Bank remaining the largest by transaction value at Rs 58,106 crore, while SBI Cards posted Rs 37,940 crore, ICICI Bank Rs 32,499 crore and Axis Bank Rs 22,023 crore in spends for the period. The top five issuers accounted for roughly 85.6% of total credit‑card transaction value as of January 2026, illustrating an ongoing concentration among legacy banks.
India’s credit card base surpassed 119 million cards by March 2026, and issuance momentum persisted into April as leading issuers SBI Cards, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank each added more than 900,000 new cards during the month, according to industry reporting. That expansion comes amid recent regulatory changes, including mandatory PAN verification for new applications and weekly credit‑score reporting requirements for lenders that took effect on April 1, 2026.
Month‑on‑month volatility remains a pattern in monthly RBI releases: April’s slowdown from March follows a recurring fiscal year‑end spike in spends, while annual growth has cooled from higher rates recorded in 2025. Transaction volumes have grown markedly over the past four years, with card transactions rising from 216 crore in 2021 to 570 crore in 2025, underscoring the structural growth of credit usage in India’s payments landscape.
Analysts and market observers will watch whether steady card issuance and sustained concentration among the top issuers translate into higher annualised spends in coming months, and how consumer behaviour adapts to the new PAN and credit‑reporting rules. The RBI’s monthly releases will remain the primary data source for tracking these dynamics going forward.
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