India's credit-card industry added 1.26 million cards in July, pushing the outstanding base to 122.9 million after a 9.9 percent expansion over the past year. Spending rose 7.4 percent year-on-year and 3.4 percent from June to ₹2.08 lakh crore, holding above the ₹2 lakh crore threshold for another month. The pace of new issuance quickened from 1.13 million in June, a sign that lenders are still finding room to grow in a market where penetration remains low.

Spending and volume diverge

Transaction volumes jumped 24.5 percent year-on-year to 605.3 million, outpacing expenditure growth by more than three to one. The average ticket fell nearly 14 percent to roughly ₹3,440 from ₹3,987 a year earlier, confirming that cards are being used more often for smaller purchases. Analysts at IDBI Capital and CareEdge Ratings both described the underlying demand as steady, though the widening gap between volume and value growth suggests a shift toward mass-market usage rather than premium spend.

HDFC and SBI Card lead issuance

HDFC Bank topped the July league table with 230,067 new cards, a sharp increase from 163,511 in June. SBI Card followed with 183,076 additions and ICICI Bank with 170,156. Federal Bank placed fourth at 108,492, ahead of IDFC First Bank's 82,723. Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and RBL Bank rounded out the major issuers with 70,091, 64,617 and 26,915 cards respectively. Over the trailing twelve months, HDFC has added 2.1 million cards, ICICI 1.64 million and SBI Card 1.50 million.

IndusInd stands alone in contraction

IndusInd Bank was the only large issuer to shrink its portfolio, shedding 9,397 cards in July after a 10,890 decline in June. The persistent runoff contrasts with the broad-based expansion elsewhere and points to a deliberate portfolio cleanup rather than a cyclical dip. Federal Bank's twelve-month addition of 1.20 million cards has now eclipsed Axis Bank's 1.08 million, while IDFC First Bank has crossed the one-million mark at 1.03 million.

Public sector banks gain share

State-owned lenders saw aggregate card spending climb 22 percent year-on-year to ₹46,159 crore, lifting their share of industry expenditure by roughly 265 basis points to 22.2 percent. Private-sector banks grew spending a modest 2.8 percent to ₹1.50 lakh crore, ceding about 321 basis points of share to finish at 72.1 percent. The rotation reflects a broader push by public-sector banks into unsecured retail credit, a segment they historically avoided.