Bad debt from credit cards in public sector banks has doubled to 18% at the end of FY2023, the Reserve Bank of India’s Financial Stability Report (FSR) said.

In the year-ago period, state-run banks’ gross non-performing assets (NPAs) was about 9% and it stood at around 15% in September 2022.

"While there has been an overall improvement in asset quality in respect of personal loans, impairments in the credit card receivables segment have risen marginally," the bi-annual FSR report said.

Earlier, the RBI has been cautioning banks about the risks on unsecured books, which includes credit cards, personal loans and microfinance.

As per the report, there was a marginal uptick in NPAs in the credit card receivables category for the banking system in FY2023 at 2%.

Bad debt from credit card receivables in private sector banks remained broadly flat at 1.9% while it was 1.8% for foreign banks.