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Tag: Paisabazaar

  • Credit where it’s due as festive shoppers swipe big this Diwali

    Credit where it’s due as festive shoppers swipe big this Diwali

    MUMBAI: Looks like this Diwali, Indians didn’t just light up their homes, they swiped their way to sparkle too. A new survey by Paisabazaar reveals that over 42 per cent of credit card users spent upwards of Rs 50,000 on festive shopping this year, signalling that big-ticket buying is firmly back in fashion.

    The festive cheer wasn’t limited to diyas and discounts, it spread right across credit limits. About 22 per cent of respondents spent between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh, while one in five splurged over Rs 1 lakh on their cards during Diwali. The survey, which covered over 2,300 users, paints a clear picture of India’s growing comfort with credit as a strategic spending tool.

    When it came to what they bought, home appliances topped the wishlist at 25 per cent, followed by mobiles, gadgets and accessories at 23 per cent, and apparel at 22 per cent. Furniture and décor made up 18 per cent of spends, while gold and jewellery accounted for 12 per cent proof that both sparkle and substance drove shopping choices this season.

    But it wasn’t all impulse. The study revealed that 91 per cent of shoppers planned their purchases around card-specific offers and festive deals. Less than 10 per cent relied solely on their card’s standard cashback or reward structure. Clearly, today’s consumers are not just shopping, they’re strategising.

    “Consumers are using credit cards more intelligently, timing their high-value purchases with festive offers and card-linked deals,” said Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal. “This growing financial awareness shows how value and convenience are driving credit card use.”

    The benefits are paying off too. Nearly 71 per cent of respondents owned shopping-specific credit cards that offered cashback or festive rewards, while 15 per cent received seasonal deals even without such cards. For many, cashback remained the biggest draw chosen by 20 per cent of users followed closely by co-branded offers (19 per cent) and accelerated reward points (18 per cent).

    Among those opting for EMIs, No-Cost EMI emerged as the clear winner, attracting 56 per cent of users, while 29 per cent chose EMIs to unlock extra discounts and 10 per cent used them simply to spread payments more comfortably.

    Interestingly, shoppers were equally at home online and offline 48 per cent said they preferred a mix of both. The hunt for better deals drove most of them to e-commerce giants, with 83 per cent claiming they found the best discounts on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart. Together, the two dominated with a 43 per cent preference rate, followed by Myntra (15 per cent), Meesho (10 per cent), and other platforms such as Ajio, Nykaa, Zepto and Tata Cliq accounting for 32 per cent collectively.

    Paisabazaar, head of credit cards Rohit Chhibbar summed it up aptly: “This festive season marked the rise of the value-savvy shopper, one who plans, compares, and capitalises on every offer. Cashback, rewards, and no-cost EMIs have made credit cards indispensable for festive spending.”

    In short, this Diwali, shoppers didn’t just chase lights, they chased the right swipes.

     

  • Jiostar sparks insights with new advertising series

    Jiostar sparks insights with new advertising series

    MUMBAI: Advertising just got a front-row seat. Jiostar Entertainment has launched The Collective, a new series designed to convene India’s leading marketing voices to explore the future of advertising in entertainment.

    https://ads.jiostar.com/jiohotstarctvplaybook/thecollective/

    The premiere episode featured a star-studded panel, including Jahid Ahmed (HDFC Bank), Sachin Vashishtha (Paisabazaar), Varun Mundra (Motilal Oswal), Sajit Gopal (Domino’s) and Jiteen Aggarwal (Hettich India), in conversation with Jai Lala of Zenith India.

    Discussions ranged from the rise of connected TVs as India’s central household screen and the measurability of CTV campaigns, to OTT’s expanding role in digital adoption and co-viewing patterns. The session also explored how brand-safe OTT environments deliver enhanced value for advertisers.

    The Collective will continue as an ongoing series, bringing fresh conversations with brand leaders, marketers and industry experts to decode the fast-evolving advertising and entertainment landscape in India. 

  • Paisabazaar banks on bonds & FDs with new wealth management foray

    Paisabazaar banks on bonds & FDs with new wealth management foray

    MUMBAI: Paisabazaar, one of India’s largest consumer credit marketplace, has taken a bold step into wealth management by launching fixed deposits (FDs) and corporate bonds on its platform.

    Best known as the go-to hub for free credit scores and loans, the fintech giant now wants to be the one-stop shop for all things money. “Our vision is to be a lifelong financial partner by offering a full suite of borrowing, saving and investment options,” said Paisabazaar, ceo, Santosh Agarwal.

    The move comes on the heels of PB Money, Paisabazaar’s personal finance management tool built on the account aggregator framework. With the latest launch, the platform promises retail investors a digital-first, transparent experience to compare, choose and book investment products, all from the comfort of their phones.

    FDs from players like Bajaj Finance, Suryoday Bank, Shivalik SF Bank, Slice SF Bank, Utkarsh SF Bank, Shriram Finance and South Indian Bank are now live on the app. Meanwhile, corporate bonds, powered by SEBI-regulated Grip Invest are being pitched as a high-yield alternative, with potential returns of up to 13.25 per cent, and investments starting as low as Rs 1,000.

    Investors can filter bonds by yield, credit rating and ticket size, and even access SEBI-registered analysts’ curated advice on theme-based portfolios. The aim: to make fixed income appealing again.

    Long term, Paisabazaar plans to balance its credit engine with savings and investment offerings, while targeting underserved and ‘new-to-credit’ segments. The company believes its data-led approach will deepen customer engagement and build a resilient, diversified model.
     

  • Paisabazaar opens doors to credit with first retail store in Gurugram

    Paisabazaar opens doors to credit with first retail store in Gurugram

    MUMBAI: Credit just got a shopfront makeover. Paisabazaar, India’s largest credit marketplace and free credit score platform, has stepped off the screen and onto the street with the launch of its first-ever retail store in Gurugram. This brick-and-mortar debut marks the fintech’s bold push to blend face-to-face financial advice with its tech-driven backbone.

    Over the next few weeks, the lender will expand with two more stores in Delhi and Noida before rolling out an ambitious 100 outlets across Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and other metros. These hubs won’t just sell loans but will serve as financial pitstops for every kind of borrower from first-time credit seekers to small business owners offering guidance on personal loans, home loans, business loans and credit cards. For those less comfortable navigating apps, Paisabazaar’s physical presence promises hand-holding, personalised solutions and a friendlier gateway into the world of credit.

    “The retail store is a new business model for us, one that combines the comfort of a physical interaction and a technology-led seamless experience,” said Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal. “Our physical presence will help us both scale our business and deepen consumer trust.” The initiative aligns with the fintech’s larger goal of bridging the digital–physical divide and building a hybrid model that caters to millions of Indians who want the reassurance of a handshake alongside a loan approval. In a country where credit literacy still has miles to go, Paisabazaar’s retail foray may well prove to be credit where it’s due.

  • Credit where it’s due Delhi tops Paisabazaar’s most credit healthy cities

    Credit where it’s due Delhi tops Paisabazaar’s most credit healthy cities

    MUMBAI: Looks like Delhiites aren’t just keeping up with the Joneses, they’re paying them back on time too. According to Paisabazaar’s insights report “How India Checked Credit Score”, the capital has emerged as India’s most credit-healthy city, with 46 per cent of its consumers scoring well and an average score of 746.

    Close on its heels is Pune, where 44 per cent of participants posted an average of 744, while Kerala (43 per cent at 745) and Chandigarh (43 per cent at 744) round off the top credit-conscious quartet. The findings were drawn from the Credit Premier League (CPL), a gamified contest that saw a whopping 4.7 million participants from 710 cities track and test their financial fitness over 30 days.

    The competition wasn’t just about averages, it also produced some standout high scores. Five participants from Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kerala and Pune touched 861 out of 900, the highest in the country, while a Chennai contestant followed closely with 859.

    Interestingly, the most active cities weren’t the healthiest ones Mumbai, Hyderabad and Lucknow together clocked nearly 1.5 million participants. More than half of all players came from the millennial bracket (29–44 years), highlighting just how deeply younger Indians are engaging with financial health.

    Women may have been fewer in number, making up just 8 per cent of participants, but they left a mark too, one-third hailed from southern cities such as Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. Adding to the fun was a quirky Ghibli-style selfie feature that allowed participants to generate animated selfies showcasing their credit scores, sparking a social media wave of “score-sharing”.

    “Consumers are engaging with their credit health like never before,” said Paisabazaar CEO Santosh Agarwal adding that CPL has helped make conversations around financial fitness truly mainstream.

    From quirky selfies to sky-high scores, the Credit Premier League has proved one thing, when it comes to money matters, India is ready to play the long game.

  • Paisabazaar’s Credit Premier League (CPL) Blends AI spark a credit fitness movement

    Paisabazaar’s Credit Premier League (CPL) Blends AI spark a credit fitness movement

    MUMBAI: Paisabazaar launched the Credit Premier League (CPL), a nationwide contest designed to make credit score tracking engaging, competitive, and fun, and to reward the country’s most credit healthy individuals. As part of the contest, Paisabazaar has introduced a playful Selfie Feature on its App that’s catching the attention of its consumers across the country.

    The selfie feature allows users to take afun, animated selfie with their credit score displayed in a creative, Ghibli-style avatar. Paisabazaar has built the feature using the latest GPT-image-1 model for converting customer selfies into Ghibli-style images.

    Once a consumer checks their credit score on the Paisabazaar App, they can instantly transform theirselfie into this unique, shareable digital artwork. The fun, Ghibli-style selfie can then be easily shared on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, encouraging friends, family, and others to participate in the contest and check their own credit scores.

    A number of popular influencers, including Chetan Bhagat, RanveerAllahbadia and Rachana Ranade, have already participated in the contest, sharing their credit scores and their fun Ghibli-selfies on social media. Their participation has already generated widespread buzz, encouraging their followers to take part and check their own credit health.

    In addition to making credit score tracking more interactive, the Selfie Feature is designed to spark conversations around financial health, helping raise awareness about the importance of credit score in a fun way.

    Paisabazaar chief product officer Radhika Binani said, “At Paisabazaar, we have always focussed on Bharat’s financial wellness, by building awareness and engagement around key aspects like credit health. With CPL, we aim to build India’s first and largest credit score contest. A key aspect of the initiative is our use of technology, to encourage conversations around credit health.

    Paisabazaar CTO Mukesh Sharma added, “Our technology-driven initiatives are designed to make the experience of checking and understanding credit scores more accessible and engaging. The selfie feature adds a layer of fun and social sharing to an otherwise serious topic, bringing credit conversations into the mainstream.”

  • Santosh Agarwal takes charge as CEO of Paisabazaar amid strategic shift

    Santosh Agarwal takes charge as CEO of Paisabazaar amid strategic shift

    MUMBAI: Paisabazaar has appointed Santosh Agarwal as its chief executive officer, stepping up to head PB Fintech’s credit distribution platform. She succeeds Naveen Kukreja, who has moved to PB Fintech Limited as group president while retaining a non-executive director role at Paisabazaar.

    Agarwal, a seasoned financial expert with over a decade at the company, previously headed the life insurance segment at Policybazaar as chief business officer. Her guidance is expected to drive the platform’s next phase of growth as it diversifies beyond credit products into savings and pension services. This strategic expansion follows a slowdown in the unsecured lending sector, prompting Paisabazaar to explore new opportunities.

    Further strengthening its management, PB Fintech has appointed Neeraj Tripathi as chief financial officer, succeeding Vivek Audichya, who has transitioned to Policybazaar. These changes reflect the group’s focus on innovation and resilience in a shifting financial landscape.

  • ETNOW business conclave spotlights India’s road to a $5 trillion economy

    ETNOW business conclave spotlights India’s road to a $5 trillion economy

    MUMBAI- India’s economic ambitions took centre stage at the ETNOW.in Business Conclave & Awards 2025, where industry stalwarts and policymakers mapped out the nation’s journey toward a $5 trillion economy by 2030. Aligned with ET NOW’s ‘Rise with India’ ethos, the event served as a strategic forum for discussions on AI, digital policy, space technology, and national security key pillars of the Viksit Bharat vision.

    Union minister Jitendra Singh highlighted India’s rapid strides in the space sector, revealing that the industry attracted Rs 1,000 crore in private investments within months of opening to commercial players. He projected a fivefold expansion of India’s space economy, reaching $44 billion in the next decade, citing missions like Gaganyaan as milestones of self-reliance.

    Former union minister and tech investor Rajeev Chandrasekhar made a compelling case for revamping India’s outdated IT laws, stressing that the 25-year-old IT Act fails to account for the Internet and AI—two transformative forces driving the digital economy. “A modern, entrepreneur-first legal framework is needed, free from unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles,” he asserted.

    Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, Lt. Gen. K.T. Parnaik (Retd.), underscored the role of strong border security and infrastructure in economic growth, detailing Arunachal Pradesh’s potential as a hydropower hub with a capacity of 58,000 MW.

    The ETNOW.in Business Conclave & Awards 2025 honoured excellence across 82 categories, recognising industry leaders driving innovation and impact. Naveen Kukreja (Paisabazaar.com) and Ashish Kashyap (IND Money) were named ETNOW Industry Icons, while Central Park Flower Valley secured the Leading Township of the Year award. 

    ACT21 Software Pvt. Ltd. was celebrated for Excellence in Fintech with its HyPerform solution, and VAXIFLU-4 (Zydus) received the Service Excellence Award in Vaccines & Prevention. In the branding space, U.S. Polo was recognised for its Excellence in Marketing Campaign (2024-2025), while Exhale Label emerged as the Emerging Fashion Brand, reinforcing its growing influence in the fashion industry.  
     

  • Digital-first & internet- based brands and the magnetic appeal of IPL 2020

    Digital-first & internet- based brands and the magnetic appeal of IPL 2020

    NEW DELHI: Apart from the brands and services available in shop shelves and in brick and mortar stores, a slew of players in the digital ecosystem has also boarded the IPL train and ridden on the track of success. The telecast of the league has played a vital role in building mass awareness and adoption of digital-first brands thus accelerating digital adoption in India.  Something which the SARS Cov2 virus has further hyper-speeded up over the past few months.

    Digital-first start-ups are normally on a fast-growth and customer acquisition path right from the get-go, egged on by investors to increase valuations and revenues. Marketing guru and director of the Ehrenberg Bass Institute at the University of South Australia Byron Sharp in his book How Brands Grow – what marketers don’t know highlights that “growth primarily comes from gaining new users rather than driving increased loyalty. Most brand users are light users. Hence, marketers need to build brand availability and mental availability. What this basically means is that if brands want to grow, then they have to ensure they reach non-users consistently.”

    Observers point out that this is something which digital brands can effectively do using the unparalleled large scale and simultaneous reach that the IPL offers. The league itself has taken a page out of Byron’s marketing theories, has innovated, increased its reach in different languages, added viewing platforms, increased viewers, thus growing year on year. Inventory on the IPL telecast on the Disney Star India channels is limited at 800 seconds an hour with shorter ad breaks of 50 seconds each because of the fast-paced nature of the T20 game. Thus the OTS for a TVC is higher than on other television genres leading to high TOM recall. Research has also shown that increasingly TV viewers are constantly using their mobile phones as a second screen; hence cleverly crafted TVCs or ads leading audiences to respond instantly using their handheld device can generate instant and repeat interaction with a digital-first brand and even a transaction during IPL matches.

    Consider the experience of digital lending marketplace Paisabazaar and insurance price-comparison and booking portal Policybazaar.  Brand managers at the two companies have regularly put their ad bucks behind cricket to build their brands and reach out to potential customers. In 2019, the duo advertised around IPL as well as the ICC World Cup and made a huge impression on viewers.

    Paisabazaar chief marketing officer Sai Narayan is sold on the efficacy of the IPL as a national promotional platform. “IPL is one of the important vehicles for digital-first brands to increase their reach,” says he. “Brands continuously spend on digital mediums to generate ROI but TV gives scale. It generates a huge amount of free traffic and people end up searching for the brand. It creates a pull effect for the brand instead of the push effect.”

    Narayan agrees that IPL is costlier than any other platform but the returns are also better as the conversion rate is higher and the brand recall and impact are much higher.  Says he: “Brands are ready to pay a premium for the incremental jump. If you advertise around it regularly, it helps in creating a strong brand salience,” says Narayan.

    Additionally, his teams have been consistently witnessing jumps in the free traffic from 40 per cent to 50 per cent above the usual. Elaborates Narayan: “Whenever we have considered cricket, we have observed a substantial surge in our web traffic, resulting in lowering our cost per lead at a daily/ monthly/ campaign/ market level. The canvas to play within live sports is far bigger than traditional mediums, there are so many elements you can play with. A typical sporting event is long enough for brands to build a lasting recall value. If there were no live sports we might not have reached 40 million monthly users on Paisabazaar and 30 million monthly users on Policybazaar.”

    Urban Company (formerly Urban Clap) went aggressive with its Ayushman Khurana-anchored TVC during the IPL 2019 promoting the company’s air conditioning (AC) services targeted at males on Star Sports’ HD channels.  The net result: searches and bookings for the sorely needed air condition repair service in the summer climbed. This allowed the management to expand Urban Clap into newer services as well as its footprint to newer Indian cities. Earlier this year, it went in for a rebranding exercise calling itself the Urban Company.

    No wonder Dentsu Aegis CEO APAC & chairman India Ashish Bhasin believes that this season’s IPL presents a perfect opportunity that digital brands should exploit. “The pandemic has benefited digital companies as we have all moved more to digital as we have been working from home,” he says. “It’s obvious there is a distinct advantage to digital businesses to associate with the IPL as they are running well whereas the brick and mortar companies are still struggling to get back on their feet. The digital firms also have cash as they are well funded. Associating with the IPL gives them distinct benefits as well as tremendous exposure and engagement.”

    Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy partnered with the IPL in 2018 and 2019 as an official associate broadcast sponsor.  It created six witty slices of life TVCs which were focused on the love of Indians for cricket and food. The core message the commercials conveyed: Swiggy allows consumers to enjoy the absorbing battle on the ground even as it looks after their stomach’s needs.

    “Our TVCs are reflective of the national brand that Swiggy is today,” says Swiggy VP marketing Srivats T. “Post the last IPL campaign, we had millions of users download the app, waiting for Swiggy to go live in their cities. We saw growth in both new and repeat users. There was a phenomenal engagement on Swiggy Sixes – a property using which fans would get discounts if they placed an order within six minutes of a six being hit – with over a million viewers opting for it.”

    Edutech company Byju’s has backed the IPL and even team India in recent times. According to VP marketing Atit Mehta, the Byju’s app sees increased downloads during India matches as compared to non-cricket days. “Other measurable objectives like awareness, audience engagement, time spent on the app, conversation rates, etc., also have shown an upward trend,” he said.

    Digital payments company PhonePe too met with successful results when they chose the IPL as a consumer outreach and acquisition platform.  “We wanted to build awareness around digital payments and PhonePe amongst both rural and urban audiences in 2019,” said PhonePe founder &CEO Sameer Nigam. “We used a mass media platform like TV, the most popular sport cricket, and the IPL – the biggest sporting event of the year – to launch our new brand campaign.”

    His faith in the league was justified when PhonePe reported a 115 per cent growth in the number of transactions.

    These are some compelling figures marketers at startups and emerging digital businesses simply can’t ignore. The IPL has always been one of the largest marketing platforms for brands and marketers to gain from. With so many testimonies that prove this in more than just one way, it’s evident that this is the right time to get a lot of traction with the IPL and the festivities coming together from a timing perspective. It’s all about the right choices when it comes to Adex and spends. And when timed right, this can really turn a brand’s journey around. As the saying goes, success – though it may seem unsure initially – embraces those who go boldly were few have gone before.

  • Discovery Channel’s docuseries on ‘India Startup Stories’ premieres on 14 Dec

    Discovery Channel’s docuseries on ‘India Startup Stories’ premieres on 14 Dec

    MUMBAI: Discovery Channel’s ‘India Startup Stories’ narrates the journey of Indian start-ups who have made giant strides forward and have made a mark on the Indian ecosystem. The 8-episode series, starting December 14, at 7:00 pm on Discovery Channel and Discovery Channel HD, will cover leading start-ups including Car24, Designcafe, Games24x7, Ixigo, Licious, Medlife, Policybazaar, and Paisabazaar.

    Discovery  South Asia Ad-Sales head Vikram Tanna said, “India’s Startup Stories will shine light on the ‘vision’ behind successful start-ups and uncover the fascinating Stories behind their inception. We will uncover how an idea led to the formation of a venture which went on to significantly impact business scenario in the country while making lives of consumers simpler with technology backed concepts.”