The answer to the first is clear: the growth of card culture must be supported for very good reasons. One, it helps drive cash out of the economy and brings incomes and spendings out into the open, with positive implications for taxation. Two, it reduces the cost of currency printing and also the risk of fake notes. Three, it facilitates commerce, especially cybercommerce, which is the wave of the future.

Governments can support the card revolution in several ways -- by replacing outdated laws that prevent card usage, by modernising government departments (customs, tax, et al) to accept payments by card, and by positively incentivising card usage. Now, contrast this with what the government of Maharashtra has done -- charging an additional one per cent tax on credit card spends. This will only drive private spending underground.

As for the second question, the answer is that the growth of cards will call for a fresh look at the way money is regulated in the economy. Unlike straightforward bank credit, which clearly shows up on the RBI's weekly statements, the rise of private credit delivery through card usage is an unknown variable. It is quasi-cash. This means the monetary authorities will have to work out definitional issues and look at more effective ways of monitoring credit card cash and its impact on monetary aggregates.

Forex tracking will also become difficult: How, for example, will the RBI keep track of global spends by Indians when international cards allow you to cybershop from home? The third question is more serious: currently, Indian society is by and large credit-averse. It looks on debt as a curse -- as evidenced by the number of people queuing to prepay housing and other loans. But as the huge popularity of consumer loan melas attests, at least in the urban areas this may be changing.