The improvement in spending was accompanied by steady growth in the customer base. Net new credit card additions crossed 900,000 in December, a three-month high, increasing the total cards in force to 115.7 million from 108 million at the end of December 2024.
“Looking ahead, we expect spending momentum to remain steady, supported by residual festive demand and stable consumption trends,” said Sweta Padhi, analyst at IDBI Capital. “While year-on-year growth may remain moderate, improving volumes and sustained card additions suggest underlying demand remains intact. With asset quality stabilising, banks are likely to focus on calibrated growth, fee income expansion and higher card activation rather than aggressive acquisition,” she added.
Credit card spending totalled around ₹1.90 lakh crore in November 2025 and December 2024.
HDFC Bank led new credit card additions, increasing its card base by 160,000 last month even as mid-sized lenders continued to outpace larger players in incremental additions.
RBL Bank, which had struggled to scale up in recent months, staged a sharp recovery, adding 146,000 credit cards in December, followed by IDFC First Bank with 121,000 net additions and Federal Bank with 97,915 additions.
Among larger issuers, SBI Cards added 70,259 credit cards in December, while ICICI Bank added 67,501 cards and Axis Bank 78,944 cards. IndusInd Bank, which has been facing challenges in card acquisition, returned to positive territory by adding 34,829 cards.
In contrast, Kotak Mahindra Bank continued to lag, with net card additions slipping into negative territory with its user base falling by 22,115 in December.
“In the credit card business, growth is about building the book brick by brick. It is an exciting business, but one that requires caution,” Ashok Vaswani, managing director and CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said during a post-earnings media call last week. “The third quarter across the industry has been muted. From here on, we plan to accelerate both issuance and spending through various promotions, and credit cards should start showing traction over the next couple of quarters.”
In terms of card spends, HDFC Bank recorded the highest transaction value at ₹57,350 crore, followed by SBI Cards at ₹39,950 crore and ICICI Bank at ₹36,902 crore.
