SBI Cards tops credit card additions in May as industry hits 12 crore milestone; spends grow 6.3% YoY

Mumbai: India's credit card industry crossed the 12 crore cards milestone in May 2026, with net additions rebounding sharply to 10.17 lakh — a 33.7% surge year-on-year and a 26.9% jump month-on-month — even as year-on-year spend growth remained in the modest single-digit range, RBI data showed.

Credit card spends rose 6.3% year-on-year to Rs 2.02 lakh crore in May 2026 from Rs 1.90 lakh crore in May 2025, and recovered 2.5% sequentially from Rs 1.97 lakh crore in April — a post-financial-year-end bounce that suggests some normalisation in consumer spending after the typical April dip. Total cards in force stood at 12.04 crore, up 8.3% year-on-year from 11.12 crore in May 2025.

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SBI Cards emerged as the top card issuer in May, adding 1,81,851 net new cards — its strongest monthly performance in the recent series — overtaking ICICI Bank which had topped the chart in April. ICICI Bank came second with 1,68,344 additions, followed by HDFC Bank at 1,42,297. IDFC First Bank and Federal Bank maintained their strong mid-tier momentum, adding 87,227 and 1,06,861 cards respectively — Federal Bank crossing the one lakh addition mark for the third consecutive month.

Axis Bank added 52,328 cards in May while Kotak Mahindra Ban bounced back strongly with 53,764 additions — a 62.7% sequential jump from 33,038 in April.

IndusInd Bank showed early signs of stabilisation — shedding 9,244 cards in May versus 22,214 in April — though it remained in negative territory for the fourth consecutive month, having now lost a cumulative 53,692 cards since February. RBL Bank's decline accelerated, with net card losses widening to 6,116 in May from 721 in April.

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The industry's broader trajectory remains one of steady if moderating growth. While card additions have recovered sharply — year-on-year additions of 10.17 lakh in May 2026 compare with just 7.61 lakh in May 2025 — spend growth of 6.3% year-on-year remains well below the double-digit rates seen in earlier years, pointing to a gradual normalisation in spending intensity even as the cardholder base continues to expand.