India’s credit card transactions surge over 2.6 times between 2021-2025: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its Payment System Report, December 2025 has said that credit card transactions in India have witnessed a remarkable growth, rising over 2.6 times between calendar years 2021 and 2025, with private sector banks further increasing their market share and consolidating their dominance in the segment.

According to the report, credit card transaction volumes increased to 570 crore in 2025 from 216 crore in 2021, with the transaction value jumping from ₹8.9 lakh crore to ₹23.2 lakh crore during the same period, translating into an annual growth rate of around 27%. Debit card transaction volumes fell to 133.6 crore in 2025, from 408.7 crore in 2021, while transaction value dropped to ₹4.5 lakh crore during the period, from ₹7.4 lakh crore. RBI attributed the decline to growing competition from UPI, digital wallets, and rising credit card adoption, although debit cards continue to remain more widely held than credit cards.

The report said private sector banks expanded their share in outstanding credit cards to 71.1% in December 2025 from 67.7% in December 2021, strengthening their lead in the market. Public sector banks marginally improved their share to 23.9% from 23.5%, while foreign banks saw their share decline sharply to 3.8% from 9.3% over the same period. Small finance banks had issued 14 lakh cards by December 2025. It also highlighted the rapid pace of digitisation in the payments ecosystem, with digital payment transaction volumes increasing 33 times between 2016 and 2025, while values nearly tripled during the period.