PremiumUncertainty, however, stems from the central bank’s new card-data storage restrictions, by which online merchants will be allowed only to keep ‘token’ or masked versions of our cards in their database for transactional ease
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What consumers do can offer a fair assessment of an economy’s general direction. Thankfully, signs on this front seem positive for India. The latest credit card spending numbers from the Reserve Bank of India show an 8% growth in May from April to ₹1.14 trillion. This was more than double that month’s figure in 2021, with transaction numbers up 77% from a year earlier to 238 million. People thus spent more money per swipe. While inflation might account for some of that, it does indicate more liberal card usage.
Since India has been awaiting a demand upswing that would encourage businesses to invest in capacity expansion after a prolonged fallow period, it would be reassuring if that pace can be kept up. Uncertainty, however, stems from the central bank’s new card-data storage restrictions, by which online merchants will be allowed only to keep “token" or masked versions of our cards in their database for transactional ease. The idea is to minimize data theft. By 24 June, 195 million tokens had been issued, but hiccups in the transition process made RBI push the deadline forth by three months to the end of September. Let’s hope we see no drop in credit card spending.