India’s credit card spending growth slowed in August, with HSBC and Jefferies flagging muted momentum and profitability pressures. Card additions rose 10.3 per cent year-on-year, while UPI continued to dominate digital payments amid changes to the merchant discount rate framework
Digital payments to merchants in India rose 19.6 per cent year-on-year to Rs 11.73 lakh crore in July 2026, driven by UPI-P2M and credit card spending. UPI accounted for 77.3 per cent of total digital merchant payments.