India saw over 100 crore digital card circulation in 2021: Worldline

Outstanding credit cards rose by 14 per cent to 6.9 crore in December 2021 from 6.4 crore a year ago, while outstanding debit cards registered a rise of 6 per cent to 94 crore from 89 crore during the same period, the report said.

Of the total cards in circulation, credit cards accounted for 7 per cent market share while debit cards represented 93 per cent.

“It is however not clear how many of these cards, particularly debit, are active and whether they are being used for payments and not cash withdrawals,” Wordline India said.

“In the Credit card market, private sector banks represent 67% of cards issued while public sector banks account for 24%. “

The top issuers of credit cards were HDFC Bank, State Bank of India and ICICI Bank, with HDFC Bank emerging as the leading issuer after the Reserve Bank of India lifted a ban pertaining to the introduction of new cards by the private lender.

When it came to debit card issuances, public sector banks far outstripped their private sector peers, accounting for 68 per cent of issuances, the report said.

This was primarily because state-owned banks have been at the forefront of the government’s Jan Dhan scheme, Worldline said, adding that SBI, Bank of Baroda and Paytm Payments Bank were the top banks to issue debit cards.

“Issuance of RuPay cards under PMJDY scheme also accounted for increase in Debit card issuance. In 2021, 68 Million Debit cards were issued under the scheme. “

TRANSACTIONS

The value of credit card transactions in 2021 clocked in at Rs 8.9 lakh crore, with the number of credit card transactions at Point of Sale machines standing at 108 crore and that for e-commerce at 106 crore, the report said.

In value terms, consumers made transactions worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore through Point of Sale and Rs 5.2 lakh crore through e-commerce using credit cards in 2021, Worldline said.

The higher value of e-commerce transactions reflects the general shift from the physical space to the digital space since the onset of the pandemic, the report said.

The average ticket size of credit cards in 2021 stood at Rs 4,122, higher than Rs 3,653 a year ago.

There were 412 crore debit card transactions in 2021, amounting to Rs 7.4 lakh crore, with 237 crore of those from Point of Sale and 175 crore from e-commerce, Worldline said.

In value terms, Rs 4.6 lakh crore of debit card transactions were process at POS terminals while Rs 2.4 lakh crore were in the e-commerce space.

The average ticket size of debit card transactions in 2021 were at Rs 1,804 as against Rs 2,568 a year ago, Worldline said, adding that even as the transaction value of credit cards was higher, debit cards remain the preferred payment mode due to a huge outstanding base.

Unified Payments Interface transactions stood at 457 crore in 2021 and rose past Rs 8.2 lakh crore in value terms, Worldline said.

SBI, HDFC Bank, Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank and Union Bank were the top UPI Remitter banks in December 2021 while Paytm Payments Bank, State Bank of India, YES Bank, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were the top beneficiary banks when it came to UPI volumes, the report said.