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Microloans driving India’s festival shopping boom
Mint Chennai
|October 17, 2025
Shoppers are taking loans for buying luxury items and even protein powders and hair dryers
India’s festive season shopping spree this year is being driven not just by demand for luxury items like smartwatches and jewellery, but also by a surge in microloans powering purchases of less-expensive products such as protein powders and hair dryers.
Fintech startups such as Snapmint and Kiwi are seeing a rush of young shoppers avail low-interest consumer loans for their festive season purchases.
Snapmint, a Mumbai-based non-banking financial company, facilitates sales of multiple brands on its platform viainterest-free loans that can be repaid in equated monthly instalments (EMIs). In September, Snapmint saw its total volume of interest-free EMI transactions surge to more than ₹1 million from about 350,000 a year ago.
“The 20-30 age group represents nine out of every 10 of our customers for whom no-cost EMI has become the go-to finance option,” said co-founder Abhineet Sawa. Interest-free EMIs are the third-most popular payment method behind UPI and cash-on-delivery—a “striking surge we've never seen before”, he added.
This story is from the October 17, 2025 edition of Mint Chennai.
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