The use of both credit and debit cards went up heavily in March as people purchased more products and services through digital means amid the recent resurgence of Covid-19.

Total card loans held by lenders stood at Tk 1,783 crore in March, up 18 per cent from a month ago and 57 per cent year-on-year, data from Bangladesh Bank shows.

The growth in March was also the highest in the last seven months since September last year as the previous highest growth was 24 per cent in August.

Clients' dependency on debit cards increased substantially in March as the figure stood at Tk 22,000 crore, up 22 per cent from that a month earlier and 45.33 per cent year-on-year.

The growth of debit card transactions is also the highest in the last eight months as the number of cardholders surged 44.66 per cent in July.

The Daily Star spoke with top officials of card divisions at four banks and one managing director, a majority of whom said that the second wave of the pandemic is largely responsible for the sudden increase in card transactions.

Ahsan Ullah Chowdhury, head of card and digital banking at Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL), said that people had prepared in advance to tackle the second wave of the pandemic since March, putting a positive impact on the card transactions.

Although the government imposed restriction on public movement in April, it had earlier requested people to stay at home in March to contain the second wave, he said.

"This had had a positive impact on e-commerce as people started to embrace digital platforms since April last year when the first wave spread," Chowdhury said.

EBL, one of the largest credit card issuers in the country, also observed the upward transaction trend in April, he said.

HM Mostafizur Rahman, head of retail banking at Dhaka Bank, mentioned three reasons behind the increase in card transactions at his bank.

People came back to their normal lifestyle in February, which also continued in the first half of March, he said.

So, transactions through cards maintained an upward trend during the period and many people purchased lifestyle products in advance to celebrate March 26, which is the country's independence day.

They also purchased products in March beforehand to celebrate Pahela Baishakh, the first day of the Bangla year, he said.

Between the third and fourth weeks of March, people continued their purchasing spree as the impact of the second wave could be noticed since the period.

Arifur Rahman, head of cards at City Bank, said that a good number of e-commerce transactions through his bank were settled in March.

The month was also the starting period of the second wave of the pandemic, which had a positive impact on card transactions.

Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank, said that people had travelled to domestic tourist sites in March to celebrate the holidays.

This helped increase card transactions as well, he added.

Mahiul Islam, head of retail banking at Brac Bank, said that people had almost comeback to their normal lifestyle in March, which largely pushed up the number of digital transactions.

The issuance of credit cards was on the rise in March, when the outstanding number of bank credit cards stood at 17.37 lakh whereas it was 17.13 lakh the month before.

Similarly, the number of debit cards issued by banks stood at 2.24 crore in contrast to 2.20 crore respectively.