India Card Payments To Rise Steadily As Financial Inclusion Deepens And Credit Cards Gain Traction, Says GlobalData

India’s payment card usage is set to gradually rise over the coming years. This upward trend is firmly underpinned by a steadily growing banked population across the country. Furthermore, the improving payments infrastructure and consumers’ increasing preference for electronic payments over traditional cash transactions are heavily driving this significant shift toward a completely digital economy, reveals GlobalData, a leading intelligence and productivity platform.

GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics reveals that the total card payment value in India registered a robust growth in the last five years. This shift is being reinforced by the government’s ongoing push to expand financial inclusion and digitize everyday transactions collectively helping move consumers from cash toward card-based payments. The rising preference for digital banking and the expansion of ecommerce are expected to further support electronic payment adoption over the coming years.

Ravi Sharma, Lead Banking and Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Initiatives such as PMJDY and the JAM framework are expanding access to formal banking, while the Digital India Program expansion is expected to improve digital ecosystem, enabling wider use of electronic payment instruments. However, despite progress in penetration, sustained efforts are still required to improve card access and strengthen acceptance infrastructure in underbanked regions.”

Debit cards remain the most held card type in India, supported by the country’s growing banked population and government and RBI-led inclusion efforts. PMJDY has been central to this expansion by offering basic savings bank deposit accounts for low-income groups and rural populations with limited access to financial services.

As of August 2026, over 590 million accounts and over 410 million RuPay cards had been issued under PMJDY, highlighting the role of bundled debit cards in bringing first-time users into the formal financial ecosystem.

Credit and charge card adoption remains comparatively low due to limited formal credit history among large segments of the population (particularly in rural regions), high interest rates, concerns around debt, and the presence of overdraft facilities.

Nevertheless, Indian consumers are gradually leaning toward credit cards, driven by value-added propositions such as reward points, discounts, and instalment payment facilities. The expansion of the middle-class workforce, rising incomes, and greater awareness—amplified by banks’ promotional campaigns—are supporting increased credit card uptake and usage.

Convenience-led innovations are also reshaping credit card use cases. The integration of credit cards with UPI is expected to increase utilization by enabling instant payments via widely used UPI QR codes, including at merchants that do not accept card payments through traditional POS infrastructure.

Sharma concludes: “Looking ahead, India’s card payments growth will be shaped by the ongoing expansion of financial inclusion, continued digital infrastructure investment, and product innovation across physical and virtual cards. While digital wallets—powered by UPI—have often leapfrogged cards for everyday payments, initiatives such as UPI-linked credit card acceptance and broader card issuance are likely to increase card relevance in specific use cases, particularly ecommerce and higher-value spending. A supportive macro environment, alongside policy efforts to balance growth with responsible credit, will remain important for sustained market momentum.”

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GlobalData Plc (LSE: DATA) operates an intelligence platform that empowers leaders to act decisively in a world of complexity and change.​ By uniting proprietary data, human expertise, and purpose-built AI into a single, connected platform, we help organizations see what’s coming, move faster, and lead with confidence.​​ Our solutions are used by over 5,000 organizations across the world’s largest industries, delivering tailored intelligence that supports strategic planning, innovation, risk management, and sustainable growth.