Are banks done with India's credit card frenzy?

For the last five years, India’s new-found love for plastic has been pretty visible. More than 100 million credit cards had been issued by banks by Feb 2024.

Banks, as we all know, are in a rush to sell more and more credit cards. To do this, they use a whole gamut of attractive offers.  For example, free access to airport lounges became all the rage for the longest time. The footfall at these lounges went up significantly till banks slowly realised it was getting a bit too expensive. Which is why they started reigning these offers in.

Now, believe it or not, banks are slowly cutting down on the number of credit cards they’re issuing. In October 2025, banks issued less than half the number of credit cards they issued last year at the same time. 

The most obvious reason for lenders being careful is a decision the RBI took in November last year. It increased the risk weight on credit-card receivables of banks and NBFCs. For banks, it was raised from 125% to 150%, and for non-banks from 100% to 125%.This basically meant that lenders would have to set aside more capital for their credit-card receivables.

But in this episode, we look at the trajectory of two lenders which rely heavily on credit cards—RBL Bank and SBI Card. Clearly, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes.

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