India Financials: Credit cards (May 2026): Spending visibility still subdued

Research evidence excerpt

India Financials: Credit cards (May 2026): Spending visibility still subdued

25 June 2026

India Financials EquitiesIndia Financials

Credit cards (May 2026): Spending visibility still subdued India

◆ Credit card spending growth remained subdued, rising 6.8% Abhishek Murarka*

y-o-y in May 2026, versus c7.1% y-o-y in April 2026 SeniorHSBC SecuritiesAnalyst, Indiaand CapitalFinancialsMarkets (India) Private

Limited

◆ Mid-sized issuers are gaining traction, both on spending and abhishek.murarka@hsbc.co.in

+91 73049 07567

cards-in-force

Rahil Shah*

Analyst, India Financials

◆ We remain negative on this segment on the back of muted HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private

spending growth and long road to recovery in card spending rahil.shah@hsbc.co.in

+91 22 6628 3719

Yash Taparia*

Net card issuances trend stable: Analyst, India Financials

◆ Total credit cards-in-force (CIF) for the industry grew at 8.3% y-o-y in May’26 HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India) Private

(8.2% y-o-y in Apr’26). Net card issuances in May’26 at c1m remained higher yash.taparia@hsbc.co.in

than the average run-rate of c750k cards per month in FY26. +91 080 6737 2394

◆ The top three card issuers issued 490k cards in May’26 from 420k cards in * Employed by a non-US affiliate of HSBC Securities (USA) Inc, and is

Apr’26 and accounted for c50% of the incremental issuance. Card issuance was not registered/ qualified pursuant to FINRA regulations

lower for HDFCB while it was higher for ICICIBC and SBICARD compared to

FY26 average run-rates.

◆ Outside of the top private issuers, IDFCFB and FB continued to gain market

share. Other mid-sized banks such as IIB and RBK reported flat cards-in-force.

Card spending growth remains a concern: