Top lenders step up credit card issuance as stress expected to ease
Top lenders are actively expanding their credit card portfolios, anticipating stabilisation of stress in the unsecured lending segment. Data from the Reserve Bank of India for January show that the three leading credit card issuers — HDFC Bank, SBI Cards and ICICI Bank — accounted for nearly 90% of all new credit cards issued that month.
The industry added 8.2 lakh new cards in January, with HDFC Bank leading with 3 lakh cards, followed by SBI Cards (2.4 lakh) and ICICI Bank (1.8 lakh). This brings the total number of credit cards in India to 10.89 crore, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 9.5%.
While the industry continues to grow, the remaining banks showed more caution, collectively adding just 1 lakh new credit cards in the first month of 2025.
«Net new card additions remained largely flat month-on-month, as lenders have adopted a cautious approach due to rising delinquencies and the RBI's risk weight regulations,» said IDBI Capital analyst Bunty Chawla.
During a recent earnings call, Kotak Mahindra Bank managing director Ashok Vaswani had highlighted declining risks in the credit card segment.
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