Credit card users are swiping their cards more frequently than they did a year ago, but each transaction is fetching a smaller amount of spending. The number of credit card transactions climbed 24.1% year-on-year to 601 million in July this year. Overall spending through credit cards, however, increased by just 7.4% during the same period, reaching ₹2.08 lakh crore, according to a Moneycontrol report.
This widening gap between transaction growth and spending growth pushed the average ticket size down 13.5% year-on-year to ₹3,460 in July. The decline was more pronounced than the 12.9% drop seen in June.
The Monthly Credit Card Insights: July 2026 report from Asit C. Mehta Investment Interrmediates Ltd (ACMIIL), drawing on Reserve Bank of India data, highlights a growing preference for smaller-value transactions made through RuPay credit cards linked to UPI.
According to the ACMIIL report, the fall in average spending is particularly linked to the increasing use of RuPay credit cards on UPI for small-value payments.
RuPay credit cards connected to UPI allow users to make payments at merchants through the UPI network without physically swiping or tapping their cards. However, the report does not provide a specific estimate of the share of overall transaction growth attributable to credit card-linked UPI payments. Therefore, the 24.1% rise in transaction volume should not be interpreted as being driven solely by UPI.
Punjab National Bank (PNB) offers a more specific example of the link between credit card usage and UPI. The bank recorded 5.2 million credit card transactions in July, marking an 8.9% month-on-month increase after transaction volumes had surged six-fold in June. The ACMIIL report attributed the latest rise to PNB’s partnership with Kiwi for UPI-based credit card payments.
Credit card spending at PNB also recorded strong growth, rising 173% year-on-year and 8.6% month-on-month in July. Despite this sharp increase, PNB remains a relatively minor contributor to the overall credit card market, accounting for just 0.4% of industry-wide spending.
The bank’s data illustrates how UPI-linked credit card payments can contribute to higher transaction volumes. However, PNB’s experience alone cannot be used to conclude that the same trend is responsible for the increase across the entire credit card industry.
The decline is not limited to spending per transaction. The average monthly expenditure per credit card was ₹16,812 in July, marking a 2.2% increase from June but a 2.4% decline compared with the same month last year.
Spending patterns also varied considerably among major card issuers. HDFC Bank reported the highest average monthly spend per card at ₹22,322, followed by SBI at ₹17,392 and ICICI Bank at ₹17,278. Across the industry, the average stood at ₹16,812.
The July data points to a clear divergence in credit card usage: consumers are making transactions more frequently, even as the amount spent in each transaction continues to fall. ACMIIL attributed part of the decline in transaction value to the growing use of RuPay credit cards linked to UPI for smaller-ticket payments.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available data and reports. The information is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice.
Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers.
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With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.
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Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’.
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He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.
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He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP.
<br><br> He can be reached on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/garvit-bhirani">LinkedIn</a> or on <a href="https://x.com/GarvitBhirani">@garvitbhirani</a> on X
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