Experts say that the credit card issuances and spending continued to stay strong in May indicating that the retail economy persists to be strong. According to data from the RBI, there were 7.68 crore outstanding credit cards in May 2022, which was about a 2.2 percent increase from 7.51 crore in April. On a YoY basis, this was a jump of 23.3 percent from 6.23 crore credit cards in force in May 2021.

Credit card spending also remained well beyond the ₹1-lakh crore mark in May despite inflationary pressures and increasing interest rates. Total credit card spending in May was at ₹1.13-lakh crore, which was 7.8 percent greater than ₹1.05-lakh crore spending in April. Credit card spending has increased more than twice in the last year by 117.8 percent from just ₹52,200 crores in May 2021. According to Macquarie Research, the latest data releases from RBI indicate that credit card spending has been very strong touching an all-time high level in May 2022. It also said that the bounce rates by value are also at three-year low levels. These data points show that the retail economy is strong, cautioning that with interest rates are predicted to rise rapidly in the next few quarters.

Monthly spends per card for the industry grew five percent, MoM, to ₹14,800, greater than pre-Covid levels. The ticket size of transactions was stable at ₹4,700-4,800, while the number of transactions per card rose to 3.1 percent. All players, barring American Express, witnessed an increase in monthly spending per card of up to ₹1,100, barring IndusInd Bank, which witnessed an increase of ₹3,900. HDFC Bank had the highest card issuances in May with about 3.85 lakh new cards.