Credit cards transaction up nearly 29% in Aug

Transactions worth Rs 6,259.42 crore were carried out in the country by credit cards during the August-month, a growth of 28.89 per cent from the figure recorded in the same period last year.

Credit card transactions during August 2009, were at Rs 5,817.46 crore, according to the figures released by the Reserve Bank of India.

The number of credit cards in circulation have, however, declined by nearly 14 per cent to 1.89 crore as on August 31, 2010, from 2.19 crore in the same period last fiscal.

During the first five-months of the fiscal, the total transactions carried out via credit cards increased 18.82 per cent to Rs 29,024.75 crore, as against Rs 24,427.33 crore in the April-August period of 2009-10.

Meanwhile, debit card transactions in August was up by 42.32 per cent to Rs 3,321.09 crore, as against Rs 2,333.46 crore in the corresponding month last year.

There were 20.01 crore debit cards in use in the country as on August 31, 2010, up over 29 per cent over the figure of 15.51 crore in the year-ago period.

In April-August period, the total transactions carried out by debit cards jumped by 44.16 per cent, to Rs 14,288.61 crore, from Rs 9,911.92 crore in the first five-months of the last fiscal.