A recent RBI report reveals a significant surge in credit card transactions across India, jumping over 2.6 times between 2021 and 2025, as private sector banks solidify their market leadership amidst a broader shift towards digital payments and a decline in debit card usage.
Key Points
- Credit card transaction volumes in India increased 2.6 times from 216 crore in 2021 to 570 crore in 2025, with transaction value rising to Rs 23.2 lakh crore.
- Private sector banks have consolidated their dominance, expanding their share in outstanding credit cards to 71.1 per cent by December 2025.
- Debit card transaction volumes and values declined significantly, attributed by the RBI to growing competition from UPI, digital wallets, and increased credit card adoption.
- Digital payment transaction volumes in India have increased 33 times between 2016 and 2025, reflecting sustained consumer adoption of electronic payment modes.
- UPI QR codes saw substantial growth, increasing to 7,313 lakh in December 2025, while physical payment infrastructure like PoS terminals and ATMs declined.
Credit card transactions in the country rose over 2.6 times between calendar years 2021 and 2025, with private sector banks further increasing their market share and consolidating their dominance in the segment, the RBI said on Monday.
Credit card transaction volumes increased to 570 crore in calendar year 2025, from 216 crore in 2021, while transaction value rose to Rs 23.2 lakh crore from Rs 8.9 lakh crore during the same period, translating into an annual growth rate of around 27 per cent, RBI's Payment System Report, December 2025 said.
Shifting Payment Landscape
Debit card transaction volumes fell to 133.6 crore in 2025, from 408.7 crore in 2021, while transaction value dropped to Rs 4.5 lakh crore during the period, from Rs 7.4 lakh crore.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) attributed the decline to growing competition from UPI, digital wallets, and rising credit card adoption, although debit cards continue to remain more widely held than credit cards.
Private sector banks expanded their share in outstanding credit cards to 71.1 per cent in December 2025 from 67.7 per cent in December 2021, strengthening their lead in the market.
Public sector banks marginally improved their share to 23.9 per cent from 23.5 per cent, while foreign banks saw their share decline sharply to 3.8 per cent from 9.3 per cent over the same period.
Small finance banks had issued 14 lakh cards by December 2025, report said.
Digitalisation and Infrastructure Trends
The report also highlighted the rapid pace of digitisation in the payments ecosystem, with digital payment transaction volumes increasing 33 times between 2016 and 2025, while values nearly tripled during the period.
Over the last five years alone, digital payment volumes expanded more than four-fold, reflecting sustained consumer adoption of electronic payment modes.
At the same time, debit card usage continued to decline as consumers increasingly shifted to digital payment alternatives such as UPI, digital wallets and credit cards.
On the infrastructure side, the RBI said digital payment acceptance channels showed mixed trends during June-December 2025.
While UPI QR codes, credit cards and wallets registered growth, physical payment infrastructure such as point-of-sale (PoS) terminals, ATMs, micro-ATMs, and Bharat QR recorded a decline.
UPI QR codes increased to 7,313 lakh in December 2025 from 6,782 lakh in June 2025, underscoring continued merchant adoption of QR-based payments, the report added.
Future Financial Market Developments
Separately, the report said the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL) plans to introduce bond forwards and non-deliverable forwards (NDFs), while also expanding services to include margining for non-centrally cleared derivatives, in a move aimed at broadening risk management tools in financial markets.
Meanwhile, AMC Repo Clearing Ltd is looking to launch repo transactions in municipal bonds, subject to regulatory approvals, and expand into non-statutory liquidity ratio (non-SLR) debt securities, potentially widening market access and liquidity for fixed-income instruments.
