Festive sales tilt the scales as credit card spending hits Rs 1.2 lakh crore
Credit card spending on e-commerce hit a record Rs 1.2 lakh crore in September, boosted by Flipkart and Amazon’s festive sales. Daily spends crossed Rs 10,000 crore for the first time, while debit card use lagged and UPI remained steady.
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India’s festive season has redrawn the digital payments map. For the first time, online credit card spending is set to touch Rs 1.2 lakh crore in September, the highest-ever figure, powered by Flipkart’s Big Billion Day (BBD) and Amazon’s Great Indian Festival (GIF), Moneycontrol reported. The surge underscores a shift in how Indians are choosing to pay online, with credit cards temporarily edging out the country’s most ubiquitous payment mode — UPI.
According to transaction data, September 22 was a watershed moment as online credit card spending crossed Rs 10,000 crore in a single day for the first time. The milestone coincided with the start of Navaratri, launch of festive sales on top e-commerce platforms, and the rollout of reduced GST rates.
By September 26, spending had already reached Rs 1.03 lakh crore, almost matching last October’s Rs 1.06 lakh crore, with four days still left in the month.
Debit cards, however, have lost momentum. Online debit spending stands at just Rs 11,000 crore this September, lagging last October’s Rs 14,300 crore, pointing to consumers increasingly preferring credit cards for offers, cashback, and EMI options.
The spike is being driven by aggressive co-branded credit cards, new-to-credit users via fintech-issued RuPay cards (integrated with UPI), and deep discounts tied specifically to card payments. Banks and e-commerce players have positioned cards as the default for festive shopping deals.
In contrast, UPI, the backbone of India’s digital payments, barely flinched. Daily volumes, which usually touch 670 million transactions earlier in the month, dipped to around 640 million during the sale days. Transaction value also slid from over Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 80,000 crore.
But experts argue that UPI is simply “too big to move.” With its monthly value swing already ranging around Rs 30,000 crore, a Rs 5,000 crore spike in card transactions barely dents its scale.
Moreover, the bigger story is how festive events are recalibrating consumer payment behavior:
- Cards are gaining tactical dominance during festival sales due to curated discounts.
- UPI remains the everyday giant, dominating outside event-driven peaks.
- Debit cards continue to lose relevance in high-value online purchases.
