SBI tops debit card transactions in April

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, reported debit card transactions worth Rs 11,720.73 crore in April, which is a 31 percent share of the market, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India.

SBI logged over 8.33 crore POS (Point of Sale) transactions using debit cards during the month of April, even as it has grown market share in debit card spends over the last six months. The number of transactions far outstripped the onsite and offsite transactions of HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank which were around 3.52 crore and 3.27 crore respectively.

The country's biggest lender reported debit card transactions worth Rs 11,720.73 crore in April, notching up a share of over 31%, according to RBI data. In October, the share was a shade under 30%.

In contrast, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank saw their market shares drop over the six-month period following the note ban in November. Both banks were trailing SBI in April with debit card transactions worth Rs 4,818.66 crore and Rs 4,671.62 respectively.

While the April data was definitely miles ahead of the October data, it paled in comparison with the record digital transactions seen in January – in the wake of demonetisation-fuelled bank deposits -- across public and private sector banks with SBI's market share at just 25.3 percent.

At the end of April, SBI had nearly 35 crore debit cards while HDFC Bank has 2.39 crore debit card holders and 3.7 crore card holders for ICICI Bank.