Credit card transactions up nearly 28pc in Jan

MUMBAI, Mar 15 (PTI): Transactions worth Rs 69.35 billion were carried out in the country through credit cards in January, 2011, growth of 27.82 per cent from that in the same period last year. Credit card transactions during January, 2010 were at Rs 54.26 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. The number of credit cards in circulation have, however, declined by over 10 per cent to 10.81 million as on January 31, 2011, from 20.02 million in the same period last year. During the April-January period of the fiscal, the total transactions carried out via credit cards increased 21.78 per cent to Rs 623.35 billion as against Rs 511.89 billion in the April-January period of 2010-11. Meanwhile, debit card transactions in January were up by 49.04 per cent to Rs 37.13 billion, as against Rs 24.91 billion in the corresponding month last year.