Credit card outstanding balance chugs along in October

The outstanding credit card balance is chugging along, reflecting that the consumer spending is rising gradually with the relatively modest prices and low interest rates.

According to the latest data available, the total outstanding credit card balance has increased by Rs.1,258 million in October 2025 to Rs.166.91 billion.

This brought the 10-month expansion in the easiest form of consumer credit to Rs.8,953 billion.

The Central Bank has not done much to bring the credit card interest rates down from their roughly 24 to 26 percent per annum, about thrice as much the prime lending rates and about twice as much as the general lending rate in the economy.

In any case, the credit card spend provides only a distant gauge of the health of the consumer spend as not many have cards.

For instance, there are only 2.13 million cards in active by end-October 2025, which rose by 16,039 cards in the month. In the 10 months, the banks have issued 124,961 cards.

The increase in the outstanding balance cannot actually say much about the consumer spend as many settle the card balance on or before their due date.

Hence, the modest rise in the card outstanding balance is in fact a positive sign of the consumer credit worthiness.

Meanwhile, as the country is in the middle of its year-end festive season, this is the time of the year people spend the most from their cards.

Offers, discounts and easy payment schemes are also abundant for cards during this period and all-round the year too.

Meanwhile, the total credit to the private sector, of which credit cards is only a little subset, grew by Rs.1.61 trillion in the 10 months, growing at a 24.1 percent growth year-on-year.