ICICI Bank leaves SBI behind in credit card spends as it chases HDFC Bank in pole position

• The private sector lender saw credit card spends more than double in August, compared to a 40% growth seen by SBI.
• ICICI Bank has grabbed market share from HDFC Bank that was banned from launching new credit cards until August.
• The ban on Mastercard, which ICICI Bank has less exposure to, also helped in boosting spends ahead of the festive season.
• Check out the latest news and updates on Business Insider.

As fear of a third Covid-19 wave in India eased and festive sales began, ICICI Bank surpassed State Bank of India in credit card spends in August.

The private sector lender saw a 127% growth in its credit card spends in August, compared to last year. On the other hand, SBI had to make peace with a much slower growth of 40%, as per the latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

There are at least two reasons why ICICI Bank’s credit cards are getting swiped so often now.

RBI had banned HDFC Bank from issuing credit cards in December last year due to multiple glitches in its digital banking system over the past two years. Even as the curb was lifted in August, it gave an opportunity to other lenders, including ICICI Bank, to grab credit card market share from HDFC Bank.

“The growth in ICICI Bank credit card spends having surpassed SBI can also be attributed to higher spends per credit card due to quality of customers,” said Parijat Garg, an independent digital lending consultant.

"Even as the number of cards issued by SBI and ICICI Bank have been largely similar, clearly ICICI Bank has seen higher credit card spends ahead of the festive season due to a better quality of customers that made higher-value transactions per card, compared to SBI customers,” he said.

Among other lenders, IndusInd Bank Ltd. also saw its credit card spends more than double in August compared to last year, while market leader HDFC Bank Ltd. saw a 28% year-on-year increase.

Top banks by credit card spends
Source: RBI

On an overall basis, credit card spends rose 54% to ₹77,733 crore in August, compared to last year. Compared to July, the preceding month, however, the growth seemed tepid as overall credit card spends grew just 4%.

The growth was partly due to a low base effect, as lockdown curbs affected mobility during August last year, which saw nearly two million Covid-19 cases and 28,000 virus deaths-- the highest monthly tally in the world since the pandemic began.

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