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Embedded finance, EMI cards fuel India’s new age of smart borrowing
The Statesman Siliguri
|December 08, 2025
India’s lower-middle class is moving from borrowing for survival toward borrowing for advancement, signalling a decisive cultural shift in credit behaviour, according to the seventh edition of Home Credit India’s annual How India Borrows (HIB) study.
Representing nearly two-thirds ofthe population, this segment is increasingly using credit to improve living standards, invest in entrepreneurial ventures, and buildlong-term financial security. The study identifies a growing cohort of strategic borrowers who view credit as an enabler of upward mobility rather than a last-resort safety net.
The 2025 report is anchored around four themes, credit as a driver of aspiration, the rise of digital lending, evolving borrower decision-making, and the emergence of embedded finance. Together, they show how “smart credit” is reshaping financial behaviour across age groups, genders, and regions.
This story is from the December 08, 2025 edition of The Statesman Siliguri.
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