Expenses increased by 27 percent due to excessive use of credit cards

Mumbai: Spending through credit cards increased by 27 percent year-on-year to Rs 18.26 trillion in the financial year 2023-24. According to Reserve Bank data, this number was Rs 14 trillion in the financial year 2022-23.

Credit card spending increased by more than 10 percent to Rs 1.64 lakh crore in March 2024, which was seen at Rs 1.49 lakh crore in February. March saw an increase in spending due to the festive season and the last month of the financial year.

Of the Rs 1.64 trillion spent, Rs 60,378 crore was spent at the point of sale, up from Rs 54,431.48 crore in February. E-commerce payments grew marginally by Rs 95,000 crore to Rs 1.05 trillion. In March 2023, the figure of online spending through credit cards was Rs 86390 crore.

The number of credit cards increased to Rs 10.10 crore at the end of March compared to Rs 10.06 crore in February.

The last five years have seen a significant increase in the number of credit cards. The number of cards has crossed 10 crore at the end of FY2024, compared to 5.77 cards in FY2024. Today the expenditure on cards has also increased from Rs 7.30 trillion to Rs 18.30 trillion in five years.

After demonetization, with the increase in digital payment methods in the country, the use of cards has also increased. Apart from cards, digital payments are being used for everyday financial transactions.

Data received earlier showed that Unified Payment Interface (UPI) transactions in the country have increased by 57 percent in volume and 44 percent in value terms in FY 2023-24 compared to FY 2022-23.