25% surge in unsecured retail financing

Consulting firm, Bain & Company, in its report ‘India Fintech Report 2022’ has stated that short-term loans offered by BNPL apps and other fin-techs have become a preferred mode of consumption financing. It is noted that digital lending models are gaining momentum and are largely attracting the ‘new-to-credit’ customers due to their affordability and ease of use.

The report observed that the unsecured retail financing products including the personal loans, credit cards and consumer durable (CD) loans, have increased by about 25% during the past three years with the growing usage of fin-tech apps.

According to the report, Indian fin-techs have experienced a record investment and deal activity. They are said to have received about US$10 billion in funding for more than 580 deals in FY21. This is three times more than US$3.5 billion that they received in 2020. The payments and lending sectors are reported to have attracted maximum funding (60%). Financial infrastructure, wealth-tech, and neo-banks, are the other upcoming segments. However, the first half of 2022 has seen conservative funding of US$ 4.2 billion, the report said.