Credit card deal value up 33% in October

Credit card transactions in October were worth Rs 8,997.63 crore, up 33.1 per cent from that in the corresponding period last year.

The number of credit cards in circulation has, however, declined by 3.3 per cent to 17600,000 as of October 31, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

Credit card transactions during the April-October period were worth Rs 54,369.69 crore, up 30.1 per cent over the corresponding period of 2010-11. Debit card transactions rose 50.5 per cent in October to Rs 5,591.06 crore.

There were 255 million debit cards in use as of October 31, up 22.8 per cent from the year-ago period. Transactions by debit card during the April-October period were up 43.8 per cent at Rs 20,176.26 crore.

Experts said the jump in transaction points to greater use of the electronic payments system, as people move away from old formats of payment, especially in major urban centres.

In 2010-11, transactions through credit cards in the country rose 22.15 per cent to touch Rs 75,515.68 crore in value terms. Debit card transactions rose 46.46 per cent in the last financial year to Rs 38,691.88 crore.