Buy Now, Pay Later platform ZestMoney saw a 300% increase in transactions in 2021 driven mostly by the young borrowers. A report released by the firm notes that borrowers in tier-1 and tier-2 cities borrowed to buy fashion, lifestyle, electronics and also spend on online education courses to upgrade their skills.

While most of the customers (median) were in the 23-26 years group, BNPL emerged as the preferred option for people across age groups with the youngest customer being 18 years old and the oldest at 66. The number of millennial and GenZ customer base increased by 2X and 3X respectively, indicating that the BNPL segment has been driven by young cohorts in India in line with the global trend.

The report also revealed insights on what men and women shopped for across the country. While men from Tier 1 and 2 cities spent heavily on fashion and lifestyle, women from Tier 1 and 2 cities spent on upgrading their electronics and EdTech courses for upskilling respectively.

Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Thane, Kolkata, and Jaipur emerged as the top cities witnessing demand for BNPLin 2021, while Lucknow, Kanchipuram, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Tiruvallur, and Coimbatore were the other top tier-II and tier-III cities on the platform.

” 2021 was an intense year, with the volatility of the pandemic coupled with its impact on the consumer we serve – from pain to recovery and then rapid demand acceleration over the last two quarters” said Lizzie Chapman, CEO & Co-founder of ZestMoney. “Customers continue to lap up Pay Later because it gives them the perfect flexibility to spread out costs and plan their finances better. We’ve doubled our user base in the last 12 months taking our total registered user base to 15 Mn – almost 2X growth. It’s been a well-rounded growth across categories from smartphones, electronics, fashion, and home decor emerging as the top categories on the platform.”

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