BankBazaar, India's leading online marketplace for financial products, launched 'BankBazaar Moneymood 2019', a report on emerging trends in the Indian personal finance sector.
It extensively covers 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 indicates 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 non-metros are as aspirational, if not more, compared to the Indian metros, and they are comfortable taking a loan to fulfil 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.
One of the overwhelming trends that Moneymood 2019 highlights 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.
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% increase in fuel credit card applications from women. Women have also outperformed men in fulfilling their globetrotting aspirations, with a 73% rise in travel credit card applications from women compared with 71.5% from men.
The report also validates that India is embracing paperless finance whole-heartedly. With a 198% year on year (YoY) growth in paperless approval of personal loans, an 11% YoY increase in paperless approval of credit cards and a 38.3% YoY rise in paperless approval of car loans, it is undeniable that Indians increasingly prefer transacting online over physical submission of documents.
India is no longer content with small cars and wants to make a statement with bigger, faster, and trendier cars. In 2018, there was a 42% increase in the highest car loan ticket size compared to the previous year. The average car loan ticket size for metros (Rs. 5.72 lakh) marginally outperformed the average car loan ticket size for non-metros (Rs. 5.21 lakh).
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. There has been a 64.5% YoY increase in lifestyle credit card applications from non-metros and a 53.67% YoY increase in lifestyle credit card applications from users under the age of 25.
Fuel credit cards saw a massive spurt in demand, with a 104% rise in card applications from people under 25 years of age. Metros witnessed a 62% YoY increase in fuel credit card applications compared with an 85% increase from non-metros. Young Indians with wanderlust are aware of the benefits of travel credit cards and an increasing number of people are applying for them. There was a massive 195% growth in travel credit card applications from those under 25 years of age. Non-metros saw a whopping 309% YoY rise in travel credit card applications compared to a 59% increase from metro cities.
Adhil Shetty, Co-founder & CEO, BankBazaar said, "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. 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."
Moneymood 2019 is the first edition of BankBazaar's annual report that highlights how different credit products have fared over the last one year. The report, compiled in-house by BankBazaar, uses internal company data from over 169 million unique visitors to BankBazaar's website. It presents an accurate picture of India's personal finance market in the year gone by and gives an idea of what to expect in 2019.
BankBazaar hosts the widest range of financial products from over 85 of the biggest public and private sector banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies in India. It closed the last quarter with 100M visitors. The company raised USD 110M through funding from investors such as Amazon.com, Experian, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, Sequoia Capital and Walden International.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
