State Bank of India (SBI) Cards and Payment Services, the second largest credit card player in India, on Tuesday said that post demonetisation, the total spending on its cards has gone up by 25-30 percent. The rise was recorded despite a fall in certain other segments such as jewellery, fuel and other discretionary spending.
Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBI Chief also said that before demonetisation, SBI cards were receiving 65 percent of transactions on cards, which rose to 85 percent post demonetisation. Hence, in a span of 50 days, there has been an increase of up to 50 percent.
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"Total spending on our cards increased post- demonetisation by 25-30 percent. But in some categories like fuel, jewellery and discretionary spending came down," SBI Card chief executive Vijay Jasuja was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.
SBI Card, which is a payment solution provider, has a little over 15 percent of market share and is the second-largest player in the 27.3 million credit cards market in India. Two months ago, the spending had reduced, but the number of transactions went up. However, in the following month (December), the transactions were up by 35-50 percent, Jasuja added.
In December, SBI had issued around 1,05,000 new cards.
Jasuja also said that the company has been adding 1,00,000 new cards per month. About a year ago it was around 65,000 and during the year before that, it was 40-45,000, PTI added.
In other news, the State Bank of India may raise its stake in its credit card joint venture (SBI Cards and Payment Services -SBICPSL). It may also replace its existing partner GE Capital in the present quarter. The bank holds a 60 percent stake in SBICPSL, the Hindu reported.
