Festivals, GST rejig boost average credit card spending by 15%: RBI data

Credit card spending surged in September 2025 on strong festive demand and GST rationalisation, with private lenders such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank leading the growth in per-card spends

Amid a record rise in spending during the festival season, coupled with rationalisation in rates of goods and services tax (GST), lenders in September saw 15 per cent year-on-year growth in average credit-card expenditure, the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India has showed.

 

All lenders taken together, expenditure per card was ₹19,107.6. 

HDFC Bank, the leading credit-card issuer, continued to record the highest, followed by ICICI Bank. HDFC Bank saw a 2.8 per cent Y-o-Y increase in average expenditure to ₹23,959.8. 

ICICI Bank logged a 27.4 per cent Y-o-Y increase to ₹22,817.6 and Axis Bank’s rang in a 33.4 per cent jump to ₹16,884.6. SBI Card’s increase was 33.5 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹18,892.3. Public-sector banks (PSBs) have seen a sharp increase in this respect in the past one year. 

According to analysts at CareEdge, this was due to enhanced offers of rewards by large PSBs. “Additionally, the higher spending… reflects their focus on urban, high-income customers with larger credit limits. Furthermore, reward structures, partnerships with ecommerce platforms, and digital engagement have also contributed to higher utilisation levels,” analysts said in the report. 

According to experts, spending per card went up because of revision in GST rates and September being part of the festival season. 

“Together, these four [top] banks contributed an aggregate of ₹260 billion to total expenditure. This strong performance was largely supported by ecommerce festival sales on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart, where these banks were the major payment partners,” said Akshay Tiwari, analyst, Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates.

 

He added: “Given the higher spend and flat transaction volumes, expenditure per transaction rose 13 per cent month-on-month, reflecting purchases of higher value.”  

According to a recent research report by Paisabazaar, 42 per cent of credit-card users spent over ₹50,000 on shopping. The rewards offered by credit cards are also making high-ticket purchases more attractive. 

Spending on the credit card had touched a record of ₹2.17 trillion in September, aided by growth in online expenditure.

Online spending  rose 25 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹1.44 trillion and that on the point-of-sale machine increased 19.2 per cent Y-o-Y to ₹72,544 crore. 

 

Santosh Agarwal, chief executive officer, Paisabazaar, said: “The surge in high-ticket festive purchases through credit cards reflects a growing affinity towards value and convenience. Consumers are using credit cards more strategically, timing their big-ticket buys to coincide with festive season deals and card-specific rewards.” 

Card issues increased 1.05 million over the August figure and reached 113.4 million. In the same month last year, net addition month-on-month was 620,000, reaching 106.11 million.