“India is at the cusp of the next payments revolution where credit will become the mainstream payment choice,” declared Vijay Shekhar Sharma during the launch of Paytm’s new co-branded credit card—issued in partnership with SBI—in May 2023.

While credit cards aren’t new, only about 3% of India’s population owns them—well below the World Bank’s benchmark of 30%. Traditionally, Indians have had a fear-based relationship with credit cards, largely viewing them as debt traps. “Most of India's first credit card users were expatriates familiar with how credit card systems worked. This resulted in a misconception that credit cards are a luxurious foreign consumer product reserved for the extremely wealthy,” reads a 2022 note from Kotak Mahindra Bank.

But the times, they are a-changin’.

Today, there’s far greater awareness and far lesser trepidation around credit cards. Indians are slowly yet surely realising that credit cards can also become a tool for financial access, rewards, and benefits.