Credit card attraction goes beyond big cities; loan growth remains flat

With e-commerce companies linking specific credit cards with steep discounts, a lot of the young middle and lower middle income salaried class are opting for credit instead of debit cards

Even as overall loan growth remains flat for most banks, online sales are driving credit card spending.

While most sectors saw negative growth in loan dues, it grew 31 per cent year over year as on end-March, at Rs 686 billion against Rs 521 billion a year before, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data.

At BankBazaar.com, an online marketplace for financial products, the number of credit card application rose more than twofold in the past year, says Navin Chandani, its chief business development officer. The site saw nearly 57 million searches for credit cards in 2017-18, almost double those in