New Delhi, Oct. 13 -- Credit cards account for just 5% of total loans outstanding to individuals in India, yet they serve as a bellwether for household debt.

About two years ago, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cracked down on two loan categories whose numbers had surged post-pandemic: unsecured personal loans, including credit cards, and bank loans to non-bank companies, or "shadow" banks. Since then, growth in these loans has slowed sharply. As of August 2025, credit card balance outstanding grew around 4% year-on-year, down from roughly 20% in August 2024. Still, risks linger.

According to the RBI, there are about 112 million credit cards in circulation, a quarter of which are issued by public sector banks. Monthly data for the curre...