The credit outstanding on plastic cards has risen by more than 50% to Rs 19,345 crore as on Feb-15, 2008 according to the RBI. One of the reasons for the rise is, Credit Cards are easier to obtain than personal Loans and the latter of course comes at higher interest rate too. One of the major contributors to the outstanding credit is the young population of India joining the labour force, which doesn’t believe in saving.
The credit card industry in India is still nascent according to VISA. Indians make just 1% of their total purchases by credit cards against 20% for Koreans. The global average is around 9%.
The Indian Credit Card market is expected to touch 55 million cards by 2010-11.