The trend of shopping by taking loans for small amounts of time is gaining pace in the country. With a recent survey, it has been found out that the 50% of the participants prefer the use of EMI cards for shopping, and while 25% people use credit cards, 10% of the participants like ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL). As per Home Credit India’s annual consumer study, ‘How India Borrows’, digital lending has augmented among Gen Z (12 to 32 years) and millennials (32 to 42 years), who take more than 3/4th of the total loans in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.
The survey was carried out in 16 Indian cities, which are, Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Patna, Ranchi, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, and Pune.
Embedded finance has also been becoming popular among the people of the country. It is preferred by 82% of the shoppers in Bengaluru, 74% in Patna, 69% in Lucknow, and 68% in Jaipur. On the other hand, 55% of the shoppers in Jaipur prefer digital loans, while 48% in Pune, 47% in Ludhiana, and 44% in Lucknow have the same preference. And as far as taking loans online is concerned, 75% of the shoppers in Pune like the same, 62% in Ahmedabad, 58% in Mumbai, and 42% in Bhopal.
More than 75% of the people involved in the survey are quite comfortable in taking loans, who have taken loans for a range of requirements like consumer durables, shopping, business-related needs, and home renovation. More than 60% of the participants believe that it is easier to take loans via mobile banking rather than internet banking, among whom a large number of youths come from tier-2 cities like Indore, Jaipur, and Surat.
60% of the credit customers involved in the survey also showed interest in embedded finance, and are of the opinion that through this, e-commerce shopping can be turned into easy EMIs, and it is easy to pay back.