Debit card issuances pick up in FY23 after 7-month slowdown a year earlier

Banks issue 17 mn cards in first five months of current fiscal, up 30% from 13 mn cards in year-ago period; Customers prefer debit cards for small value transactions, says report

Commercial banks issued around 17 million cards during the first five months of the current financial year as compared to 13 million issued during the comparable period of last year. Debit card issuances slowed down during the last seven months of the previous financial year, which saw addition of only six million cards as banks cleaned up their card portfolios by weeding out inactive plastic.

According to Worldline’s digital payments report, the total number of credit and debit cards in circulation by the end of Q2 of CY22 (June-end) was one billion.

“While the number of credit cards increased by