Pay later has undoubtedly been one of the fastest-growing modes of digital payments during the pandemic. The pay later platforms have focussed on customer centricity, transparency and flexibility, thereby attracting millennial and GenZ consumers.
According to a report by Goldman Sachs, the BNPL market in India is poised for a massive growth in the next 5 years and it currently forms 2 per cent of total retail GMV and is expected to surge to nearly 7 per cent by end of FY 26.
To propel this growth trajectory, leading players like Uni, slice & LazyPay have gone a step ahead, tied up with banks and introduced physical cards to increase touchpoints and attract a wider user base.
These pay later players are bringing the lost sheen of cards and are making it trendy again. The attractiveness, design and unboxing experience, the promise of instant onboarding and fast physical card delivery makes them stand out.
Additionally, pay later cards are also supported by a highly engaging app that enables users with insights into their monthly spends, offer a smooth interface and assured cashback making them a hot favourite among new-age users.
Take for instance Uni’s Pay 1/3rd card, it automatically splits every transaction into 1/3rd allowing consumers to pay their monthly spends in 3 parts over 3 months for no extra charges. Uni Pay 1/3rd runs on a Visa network and hence is accepted across millions of merchants including offline retail stores. Uni users love the physical card so much that an average of 52 per cent of them use the card at offline retail stores.
Take the case of Asha (name changed), a young HR professional, who was initially hesitant to apply for a credit card as she found the whole process very complex and not transparent. She heard about Uni through one of her friends and applied for one.
Asha had no hassles with her onboarding and also received her Pay 1/3rd card within 2 days. In the box, she got a mask, customised name tag and a bar of chocolate. She found this experience to be very personal compared to that of a traditional credit card which gets delivered in an envelope.
She now uses her Uni card to buy essentials, fill fuel, while she dines at a restaurant and even for her online shopping.
Fintech startup slice, as well as LazyPay, have launched slice super card and Lazy card respectively and joined the bandwagon aiming to reduce the glaring credit gap in the country.
“BNPL was always viewed to be an online-only product, thereby restricting the touchpoints for the users. Uni’s zero-fee Visa powered card is one of the many ways to make Pay 1/3rd card a lifestyle choice. Currently, BNPL in India is ripe for explosion and pay later physical cards will give an impetus to its massive adoption in India,” said Nitin Gupta Founder & CEO of Uni.