{"id":16297,"date":"2026-10-28T12:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T06:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/10.10.164.133\/?p=16297"},"modified":"2026-10-28T13:04:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T07:34:52","slug":"india-is-rethinking-how-it-pays-emi-is-just-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/payu.in\/blog\/india-is-rethinking-how-it-pays-emi-is-just-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"India Is Rethinking How It Pays. EMI Is Just the Beginning."},"content":{"rendered":" \n

From credit card EMIs to cardless financing, UPI-linked affordability and Pay in 3, India is changing how consumers access credit at checkout. And for businesses, this opens up a much bigger opportunity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about the last time you made a big purchase online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it was a smartphone, a laptop, a refrigerator, or even a holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You found what you wanted. Compared prices. Looked for offers. Added it to your cart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somewhere between deciding to buy and making the payment, you probably asked yourself a familiar question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should I pay the full amount today, or spread it over a few months?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not too long ago, the answer largely depended on one thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you have an eligible credit card?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, credit cards were the most familiar way to access EMIs while shopping online. If you didn’t have one, your options were considerably more limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But India is changing that equation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, customers can access instalment-based financing through debit cards, cardless credit, eligible UPI-linked credit instruments and shorter repayment plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this evolution is about something much bigger than introducing more payment methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India is moving from a world where access to EMI was closely tied to cards, to one where financing is increasingly connected to the purchase itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The numbers tell us why this shift matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>India’s appetite for financing is growing. But credit cards aren’t the whole story.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Credit cards have played an important role in India’s EMI journey. And they continue to be relevant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By March 2026, India had approximately 11.86 crore outstanding credit cards<\/strong>, according to RBI data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s a substantial number. But there’s an important distinction: the number of cards in circulation isn’t the same as the number of unique people who own them. Some consumers hold multiple cards, while many others don’t have one at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, consider what’s happening beyond credit cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CRIF High Mark’s How India Lends, May 2026<\/em> report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Article<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These figures don’t mean consumers are abandoning credit cards. They show that different forms of consumer credit are growing at different rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there’s another interesting part of the story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CRIF High Mark’s Bridging the Gap, April 2026<\/em> report found that 4.4 crore consumers entered formal credit in the 12 months ending February 2026<\/strong>, with consumer durable loans emerging as the leading entry product for new-to-credit borrowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about what that means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a first-time borrower, the entry into formal credit may not begin with getting a credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could begin with financing a smartphone, a washing machine or another purchase they already intend to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for affordability has never been limited to cardholders. Now, the ways to access it are expanding too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s an important change for businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A customer without an eligible credit card isn’t necessarily a customer without financing options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opportunity is to make those options available, understandable and relevant when the customer is ready to buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>From needing a card to having more ways to pay<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To understand how far EMI has come, it’s worth looking at how the experience has evolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with credit card EMIs.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For customers with eligible cards and available credit limits, a large purchase could be converted into manageable monthly payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came debit card EMI<\/strong>, extending financing opportunities to eligible customers who didn’t necessarily own credit cards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardless financing<\/strong> widened access further, allowing eligible customers to use lender-approved credit without relying on a traditional payment card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, no-cost EMI<\/strong> made eligible purchases more attractive by offsetting financing costs through merchant, brand or lender-funded offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each development addressed a different customer need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And together, they changed the role of EMI in online shopping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider someone purchasing a \u20b945,000 television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago, the availability of EMI might have depended primarily on whether they had an eligible credit card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, that same customer could potentially explore debit card EMI, cardless financing or a promotional no-cost EMI plan, depending on eligibility and available offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The television hasn’t changed. Neither has its price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s changed is the number of ways an eligible customer might be able to manage that expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even with more financing options available, one challenge remains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What happens if customers don’t know those options exist?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s where the next phase of affordability becomes interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>EMI is moving beyond cards. Now it’s entering India’s most familiar payment journey.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If there’s one payment method that has changed everyday transactions in India, it’s UPI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a \u20b950 cup of coffee to online shopping and bill payments, UPI has become a familiar part of how millions of Indians pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Article<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By September 2026, monthly UPI transactions had reached approximately 2,407 crore<\/strong>, or nearly 80 crore transactions a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now consider the opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if a customer who is already comfortable paying through UPI could also discover an eligible EMI option within that payment journey?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of searching for financing separately, they could see relevant plans while deciding how to pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The foundations of this experience are already taking shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NPCI’s RuPay Credit Card on UPI framework enables eligible credit cards to be linked to UPI apps and supports EMI conversion for eligible transactions, depending on the issuer and payment journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the next step is bringing those financing choices closer to the merchant checkout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Bringing EMI into the UPI checkout experience<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At Global Fintech Fest 2026, PayU, in collaboration with NPCI, introduced Contextual EMI on UPI, enabling EMI options to be presented within the UPI payment journey for eligible transactions above \u20b92,500.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n