In India, 5.2 million people have credit cards, which is just 25% of the total credit-active population. Submission Image | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Credit card penetration in the country has been low compared to even developing countries despite several tailwinds such as rising delinquency rates, a senior TransUnion CIBIL official said on Wednesday (July 7, 2026).
The product’s contribution to the broader lending ecosystem has declined, with only 8% of new additions being new to lending compared to 26% in the year-ago period, Bhavesh Jain, managing director and CEO of the company, told reporters.
In India, 5.2 million people have credit cards, which is only 25% of the total credit-active population of about 25 million, he said, adding that developed and developing countries have a higher proportion of people using credit cards.
A white paper prepared by a credit information company says the same share is 62% in Colombia, 98% in Hong Kong, 81% in the US and 70% in the UK.
Over the years, credit cards, which are primarily used for consumer purposes, have ceased to be the dominant unsecured product in a customer’s wallet, it said, noting that there are alternatives like Unified Payment Interface, personal loans, etc. with which they compete.
It can be noted that currently there is a merchant discount that is charged on every credit card transaction of up to 2% and there are also additional bonuses such as bonus points for transactions that the user likes.
Additionally, a user cannot currently add credit cards from other networks such as Visa and Mastercard to UPI apps, limiting the use of government-backed Rupay.
The last decade has seen growth across multiple metrics, including outstanding balance increasing by 8.3x to Rs 3.1 crore, consumer card volume increasing by 3.6x to Rs 5.2 crore and number of cards increasing by 5.1x to 10.7 crore.
The number of people holding three or more credit cards in their wallet rose to 22% from 12% a decade ago, it said, adding that the share of living cards in consumer loans fell to 38% from 56% over the same period.
The younger population is more likely to have a credit card, but the interesting aspect is that in terms of geographical spread, such cards have now ceased to be a metro phenomenon and have become something that suburban and rural residents also own, Jain said.
In terms of portfolio quality, the white paper said there was a disruption during the Covid-19 crisis that is now behind us and broader quality has shown improvement.
Credit card debt outstanding between 91 and 179 days fell to 1.7% in the year to March 2026 from 2% in the year-ago period, it said.
Published – Jul 8, 2026 01:53 pm EST.