RuPay credit cards on Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have cracked one of digital payments' trickiest challenges - turning credit cards into an everyday payment tool. But their use for mostly low-value transactions has presented a new challenge for banks and fintech companies: higher engagement without a clear path to profitability.

Key Highlights

• RuPay credit cards on UPI account for nearly 4 in 10 transactions but just 8% of spending.
• RuPay credit card holders made 750 million transactions worth ₹63,825.8 crore in April-October 2024-25.

RuPay credit cards linked to UPI account for nearly four in every 10 credit card transactions, but just about 8% of spending, according to a Bernstein estimate cited by Mint in October 2025. This sharp gap between transaction volume and transaction value sits at the heart of the industry's dilemma - the product is clearly driving usage, but that usage isn't translating proportionally into revenue-generating spend.

Transaction Data Shows Rapid Adoption

RuPay credit card holders made 750 million transactions worth Rs 63,825.8 crore in April-October 2024-25, according to the latest available data from the Union Finance Ministry. The scale of this activity underscores how quickly credit-on-UPI has been adopted by Indian consumers since its rollout, even as questions remain about the underlying economics for the institutions powering it.

Siddharth Mehta, Co-founder, fintech Kiwi said, "Credit-on-UPI is already changing the way cards are used, with customers transacting more than 20 times a month, compared with four or five times for a normal card. He noted that while the average ticket size is lower for these transactions, monthly spend per user still stays in the Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 range, because higher frequency offsets the smaller individual transaction sizes."

What This Means for Banks and Fintechs

The data paints a picture of a product that has succeeded in embedding credit cards into everyday, small-ticket spending - grocery runs, quick commerce orders, and other routine purchases - areas that credit cards traditionally struggled to penetrate in India. However, this success brings its own complications: processing a high volume of low-value transactions typically means higher operational costs relative to the revenue each transaction generates, since card networks and issuers often earn fees as a percentage of transaction value rather than a flat rate per transaction.

Also Read: NPCI June UPI Data: WhatsApp Overtakes CRED while PhonePe Retains Lead

For banks and fintech companies building out credit-on-UPI offerings, the challenge going forward will be finding ways to make this high-engagement, high-frequency usage pattern commercially sustainable - whether through pricing adjustments, cross-selling opportunities, or other revenue levers - even as the product continues to prove itself as a genuine behavioural shift in how Indians use credit.