Higher income and inflation drive up credit card spends

MUMBAI: Indian consumers have started using their credit cards more often than before, driven by higher income. Soaring inflation has no doubt pushed up card spend, but even the number of transactions has increased, albeit a falling base. The latest official data puts the total number of transactions in March at 2.3 crore on a card base of 1.8 crore.

In April 2009, the total number of transactions was 1.5 crore on a card base of 2.4 crore. The rise in the total value of spend is also a reflection of soaring prices. “There is action again in the credit cards business. The focus this time is on higher value segment,” said Shamal Saxena, head of credit cards business at Standard Chartered Bank.

“Almost 20% of our new card customers are non-bank customers and we add 80,000-90,000 new cards per month,” said Parag Rao, head of credit cards, HDFC Bank. Lenders who held back from issuing credit cards to non-account holders are back in the game, though cautiously. This is reflected in the decline in the total number of cards outstanding, which does not include those withdrawn or blocked, to 1.8 crore as on end March 2011 from 2.8 crore in March 2008.

It could also mean that banks are not pursuing renewal of cards that have expired, a phenomenon common in the pre-crisis period. The slowdown following the global financial crisis of 2008 forced many banks to go slow on their credit card business.

Card overdues, or payments owed to banks beyond due date, was about 43% of the total card spend in 2008-09 fell to 24% in 2010-11, according to RBI data. Industry estimates show that non-performing loans under credit cards rose to as high as 20% in 2009-10.