Credit card spend jumps 14% in Sept

In a pointer to consumer confidence, credit card spending in stores jumped 14% in September compared to August. Online spending grew 0.7% month on month, even as the number of credit cards shrank after banks continued to clean up their books of inactive cards.

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Data released by the RBI showed that the total value of spending in physical stores spiked to Rs 77,267 crore in September this year, up from Rs 67,414 crore in August 2020 - an increase of 14%. This increase coincided with the beginning of the festival season, which started with Ganesh Chaturthi in the country.

The decline in the number of cards is because of a new RBI regulation that requires banks to deactivate cards that have not been used for over a month since issue.