The Indian card payments market is set to grow by 9.4% in 2025 to reach INR30.1 trillion ($358 billion), supported by sustained financial inclusion efforts, improving payment infrastructure, and a rising preference for electronic payments, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s Payment Cards Analytics reveals that total card payment value in India grew by 7.8% in 2024 to INR27.5 trillion ($328.9 billion), reflecting moderating but still healthy expansion as consumers increasingly adopt digital channels. In 2025, the market expansion will be driven by higher credit card spending, a growing banked population, and further development of merchant acceptance infrastructure.
Ravi Sharma, Lead Banking and Payments Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “India’s card payments market is expanding steadily on the back of large-scale financial inclusion programs, regulatory support, and infrastructure-building schemes. The Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has significantly raised the banked population, while measures such as reduced merchant fees, the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), and permitting non-banking financial companies to offer banking services are collectively nudging consumers and merchants towards electronic payments.”
Debit cards remain the most widely held payment cards in India, underpinned by the PMJDY program and the government’s financial inclusion agenda. Nonetheless, the issuance of low-cost debit cards with basic savings accounts—over 561.6 million Jan Dhan accounts as of August 2025—has been pivotal in onboarding low-income and rural users into formal financial services and laying the groundwork for future electronic payment growth. Despite lower penetration than debit cards, Indian consumers prefer credit cards for spending due to rewards, discounts, instalment facilities, and access to short-term credit and loans.
Sharma adds: “Regulatory and infrastructure initiatives are playing a decisive role in supporting card payments. The PIDF, launched by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in January 2021 and extended to December 31, 2025, subsidizes the cost of POS and QR acceptance devices, particularly in underpenetrated regions. In parallel, the RBI’s 2025 hike in ATM fees may indirectly encourage a shift from cash withdrawals to digital payments, including card-based purchases.”
Looking at market evolution, total card payment value in India grew driven primarily by credit card expansion and a rising share of electronic commerce. Over the next five years, growth is expected to remain strong, with total card payment value forecast to increase at a 9.9% CAGR to INR43.9 trillion ($512 billion) by 2029.
Sharma concludes: “Looking ahead, India’s card payments market will continue to benefit from sustained financial inclusion efforts, ongoing infrastructure investments through schemes like PIDF, and the growing use of cards in ecommerce and transit. Although competitive pressure from mobile wallet payments will remain intense, supportive regulation, expanding acceptance networks, and attractive value-added benefits—especially on credit cards and domestic scheme products—will underpin healthy double-digit expansion in transaction value over 2025–29.”
