New Delhi, January 22: BankBazaar, online marketplace for financial products, in a report on Tuesday indicated that the demand for unsecured credit in non-metros outpaced that of the metros in 2018, and this trend could continue in 2019 as well.
The report, ‘BankBazaar Moneymood 2019’, focussed on emerging trends in the Indian personal finance sector. It covered retail credit products such as personal loans, home loans, car loans, and credit cards. The report analysed the transactions of the 169 million unique users who logged on to BankBazaar's website in 2018.
The report stated that the non-metros are as aspirational, if not more, compared to the Indian metros, and they are comfortable taking a loan to fulfill these aspirations. The average personal loan ticket size in non-metros is Rs 2.80 lakh, while it is only Rs 2.55 lakh in metros. However, the highest personal loan ticket size of Rs 47.23 lakh came from Bangalore, while the highest non-metro personal loan ticket size from Vapi was of Rs 25 lakh.
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“The government’s strong push for rapid digitisation has ushered in a new wave of change towards buying behaviour of online personal finance products across metro and non-metro cities. We believe that more and more first-time internet users from non-metros will ride on this digitisation wave and buy financial products online,” said Adhil Shetty, Co-founder & CEO, BankBazaar.
“This will lead to an increase in the average ticket size and meet the greater objective of financial inclusion. Our report pleasantly highlights that women are becoming more comfortable taking credit to meet their aspirations, and we are sure that this positive trend will continue to grow,” he added.
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One of the overwhelming trends that Moneymood 2019 highlighted is that women are becoming increasingly comfortable taking charge of their finances. The contemporary Indian woman is financially independent and aspires to own her own house. The average home loan ticket size with women as primary applicant was Rs 27.57 lakh compared to Rs 22.97 lakh with men as primary applicants.
The report said: “Women are not far behind when it comes to having their own set of wheels either, with the highest car loan ticket size at Rs 12.93 lakh. The demand for credit cards was also quite high among women. The year gone by saw an 89 per cent increase in fuel credit card applications from women. Women have also outperformed men in fulfilling their globetrotting aspirations, with a 73 per cent rise in travel credit card applications from women compared with 71.5 per cent from men.”
The report also validated that India is embracing paperless finance whole-heartedly. With a 198 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in paperless approval of personal loans, an 11 per cent Y-o-Y increase in paperless approval of credit cards and a 38.3 per cent Y-o-Y rise in paperless approval of car loans, it is undeniable that Indians increasingly prefer transacting online over physical submission of documents.
The demand for lifestyle credit cards has seen tremendous growth, especially among those under 25 years and non-metro applicants. Attractive discounts and deals have fuelled the demand for cards from first-time and non-metro users, the report said.
Fuel credit cards saw a massive spurt in demand, with a 104 per cent rise in card applications from people under 25 years of age. Metros witnessed a 62 per cent Y-o-Y increase in fuel credit card applications compared with an 85 per cent increase from non-metros, the report stated.
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