Top 4 credit card issuers lose market share in FY24
The top 4 credit card issuers of the country saw a decline in their market share during FY24, both in terms of monthly card spends and total cards outstanding, according to data by the Reserve Bank of India.
The market share of the top 4 issuers – HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank – declined to 71.98 per cent as of March 2024 from 74.79 per cent a year ago, both due to expansion in the overall spends base and accelerated growth seen by mid-sized players.
Overall spends for March 2024 stood at ₹1.6-lakh crore, higher by 19.8 per cent on year and 10.2 per cent on month. Spends for the top 4 issuers were 8-14 per cent higher compared with February.
On the other hand, the share of the next 10 issuers, those ranked 5 to 14, grew to 24.85 per cent as at the end of FY24 as against 22.35 per cent in the year-ago period. These included IndusInd Bank, RBL Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, American Express, IDFC First Bank, Yes Bank, Bank of Baroda, AU Small Finance Bank, Federal Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.
Further, the share of the next 21 issuers too rose to 3.17 per cent from 2.86 per cent in the previous year. Bandhan Bank and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank were the new entrants during the year.
The industry saw net card additions of 1.6 crore during FY24, of which the top 4 issuers accounted for 97.62 lakh cards. Total number of cards outstanding stood at 10.18 crore at end of FY24, with net addition of 12.02 lakh cards seen in March 2024.
CARDS-IN-FORCE
The top 4 issuers had a total of 7.06 crore cards-in-force as of March 2024, up from 6.09 crore in the previous year. However, their market share fell to 69.40 per cent from 71.37 per cent a year ago.
Here too, the share of the next 10 issuers rose to 25.04 per cent with 2.55 crore cards as of March 31, compared with 1.99 crore cards at the end of FY23 comprising a market share of 23.35 per cent in terms of total cards-in-force.
The share of the remaining issuers too increased to 5.56 per cent as of March 2024 from 5.28 per cent a year ago, with total cards outstanding rising to 57 lakh from 45 lakh.