SBI Cards overtakes ICICI in May as India's credit card base crosses 12 crore
Industry added 10.17 lakh net cards in May 2026 (+33.7% YoY), pushing the base to 12.04 crore. SBI led with 1,81,851 additions, ahead of ICICI (1,68,344) and HDFC (1,42,297). But spends grew only 6.3% YoY to Rs 2.02 lakh crore, hinting at moderating consumer spending intensity.
What happened
India's credit card base crossed 12 crore in May 2026 with 10.17 lakh net additions (+33.7% YoY). SBI Cards led issuers, overtaking ICICI. Spends grew modest
Key facts
- 12.04 crore cards in force
- 10.17 lakh net additions
- +33.7% YoY additions
- Rs 2.02 lakh crore spends
- +6.3% YoY spends
- SBI added 1,81,851 cards
- ICICI 1,68,344
- HDFC 1,42,297
Why this matters
With SBI overtaking ICICI and HDFC trailing in net additions, the competitive reshuffle at the top creates a window to evaluate co-brand partnerships or portfolio acquisitions from sub-scale players struggling with the spend-growth divergence.
What to watch
- Spend-per-card metric falling below Rs 16,000/month (currently ~Rs 16,800)
- SBI Cards GNPA crossing 3.5% (Q4FY26 was ~3.1%)
- RBI risk-weight commentary in next monetary policy
- HDFC Bank crossing back into top-2 monthly additions (signals re-acceleration)
- Festive Q3FY27 spend growth — if <10% YoY, structural slowdown confirmed
- Personal loan growth divergence from card spends
- Short SBI Cards on spend-per-card deterioration thesis; pair-trade long HDFC Bank
- Track monthly RBI Bulletin for credit card outstanding vs spend divergence
- Watch SBI Cards Q1FY27 credit cost guidance and revolver mix disclosure
- Monitor co-brand churn (Vistara-Air India, Tata Neu) reshuffling spend share
- Position for UPI-on-credit-card to cannibalise low-ticket card spends further