Mumbai: Indians spent less using their credit cards in September in anticipation of the upcoming grand festival sales on e-commerce platforms that begin from mid of October onwards.
According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, credit card spending (both PoS and at e-commerce sites) fell 4.2 per cent in September 2023 to Rs 1.42 lakh crore from Rs 1.48 lakh crore in August
2023 and Rs 1.45 lakh crore registered in July. Credit card spending was Rs 1.22 lakh crore both at PoS terminals and online at e-commerce sites during September 2022.
Credit card spending at the point of sale, or PoS terminals fell by 7 per cent from August to Rs 49,440 crore in September. On e-commerce sites, credit card spending was Rs 92,879 crore in September, down 3
per cent compared to Rs 95641 crore in August of 2022.
Explained Arjun Chowdhry, group executive affluent banking, NRI, cards and payments at Axis Bank said, “What we have also seen is that people tend to hold on to their spending as they anticipate some of these big events which we have seen from our e-commerce partners and from many other retail players.”
“And bearing that out, the spending that we have seen in October is actually much higher than what we saw in October last year. So some of it is seasonal and some of it is relates to customers being smart and
how they plan their festive spending. Also you should keep in mind that the big festive event is a little later this year as it was compared to last year, three to four weeks later. So all of these factors are playing out and we are almost at the end of October and what we are seeing is quite good,” added Chowdhry.
Most banks (except IndusInd Bank which saw 10.9 per cent month on month increase), registered a decline in spends during September, with the top four issuers seeing a decline of 2-9 per cent. SBI saw the
highest decline at 8.9 per cent, followed by Axis Bank at 8.4 per cent, according to RBI data.
