‘Buy now, pay later’ loans help fuel India’s festive recovery

Indian consumers are ratcheting up buy-now-pay-later installment plans to purchase everything from washing machines to vacations online as the country’s longest festive season gets underway.

Popularity is swelling for these small-sized loans that typically amount to less than Rs 5,000 ($67) as the labour market recovers from the pandemic shock. Those payments have been growing at least 20%-30% over the past three months, according to fintech-firm executives. They are expected to increase by about 66% on an annual basis in India to $11.6 billion this year, a survey by Research and Markets showed.