Credit Card Spends Fall in Feb As Consumers Prioritize Tax Planning

Mumbai: With February traditionally being a month where consumers cut down on discretionary spending and prioritize tax planning, credit card spends declined 9 per cent month on month to Rs 1.67 lakh crore as against spending of Rs 1.84 lakh crore in January 2025. This was a seven-month low in spends. However, credit card spends registered a 12 per cent year-on-year increase down from the trend of around 30 per cent historical growth until January 2024. Transaction volumes followed a similar trend, dipping 8 per cent month on month while posting a muted 27 per cent year on year rise, marking the slowest growth in 13 months.

The moderation in issuance of cards and spending by customers has also led to shrinkage in the average ticket size per card. During February, average spending per card stood at Rs 15,295, declining by 9.6 per cent month on month while increasing slightly by 3.1 per cent year on year. The average spend per transaction softened from Rs 4,282 in January to Rs 4,219 in February, reflecting cautious consumer spending.

“Historically, the month of February has seen sluggishness in the spending pattern of customers as they tend to postpone discretionary

spending due to tax planning. Also, due to a lack of major triggers during the month as most of the major festivities are behind, while customers awaited for Holi Festival in February, this led to moderation in spending,” said a report by Asit C Mehta Investment

Intermediaries.

The total number of outstanding credit cards remained largely stagnant, inching up just 0.4 per cent MoM to 10.9 crore while the YoY

growth of around 9 per cent was the slowest since June 2021. Slowed down from a growth of 18-20 per cent till May 2024, this suggests a cooling off in new card acquisitions after years of aggressive growth said the report.

Dominant players like HDFC Bank and SBI further inched higher in terms of shares, each gaining 10 basis points in market share by card count, reaching 21.6 per cent and 18.9 per cent, respectively. ICICI Bank held steady at 16.6 per cent, while Axis Bank saw a 10 bps drop to 13.5 per cent. Kotak Bank showed a decline of 10 basis points compared to last month, standing at a 4.5 per cent share. Amongst mid-sized issuers, IDFC First Bank continued its aggressive expansion, adding 80 basis points in market share over the past year to reach 3.2 per cent.