Gurgaon, December 26, 2019: India’s largest digital marketplace for financial products, announced today it has further strengthened its credit awareness initiative, by making free credit report of customers available in Hindi on its platform. In the next three months, Paisabazaar.com plans to launch the free credit report in other regional languages like Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati Telugu and Kannada.
The Hindi credit report was launched on the Paisabazaar platform last week, and over 43,000 consumers have already downloaded their report in Hindi in the last 2 days.
The industry-first move, part of Paisabazaar.com’s consumer education initiative on credit, is aimed to increase awareness and deepen understanding of credit score – one of the most important factors which lenders evaluate while processing loan and credit card applications. Paisabazaar.com says its aim is to make credit report and other key products available on its digital platform in every major regional language in India in the next 12 months.
According to reports, ~90% of new internet users in India are native language speakers and the base for internet users, whose preferred language of communication is Hindi, will outgrow the English base in the next 2 years. A customer survey conducted by Paisabazaar.com in October revealed over 62% customers would prefer to have an option of reading their credit report in their native language, in addition to English.
Naveen Kukreja, CEO & Co-founder, Paisabazaar.com, said, “As a market leader, our aim is to resolve real customer problems and, contribute towards increasing India’s financial literacy. By leveraging regional languages, we would not only be able to transcend the language barrier and make a stronger connect with a larger segment of our customers, but also add genuine value to their financial lives, by enabling comfort, familiarity and easier decision-making through a native consumer experience.”
Paisabazaar.com, which receives over 32 million visits a month, has witnessed a sharp increase in customers from outside Top 10 cities (Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Surat). Last year, for instance, 39% customers who checked their free credit report from the Paisabazaar platform were from outside the Top 10 metros, which has gone up to 54% this year.
Snapshot from Paisabazaar.com’s ‘Making India Credit Fit – A consumer Insights Report’
With an increasingly larger segment of customers visiting Paisabazaar.com from Tier 2 and 3 cities and semi-urban India, the fintech says its aim is to offer them relevant information and a consumer experience in a language of their choice. This would not only enhance engagement, but should also increase digital adoption for purchase of financial products.
Radhika Binani, Chief Product Officer, Paisabazaar.com, said, “Our philosophy is to offer consumers maximum choice – in terms of products for every need, lenders basis eligibility and now, language based on comfort of the customer. Through superior consumer experience, we are aiming to reach newer customer segments and penetrate deeper into the Indian markets, helping rise credit awareness across geographies and economic strata.”
With India’s internet users reportedly set to reach 650 million by next year, Paisabazaar.com is strongly focussing on areas like voice, vernacular and videos to provide an enhanced customer experience on its platform. Paisabazaar.com’s free credit score is already available on voice-based platforms like Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, along with WhatsApp, enabling seamless tracking of one’s credit score. The move to offer consumers with their credit report in regional languages is another step in the direction.
A third of customers who check their free credit report on Paisabazaar.com come from Hindi- speaking states
Last month, ~33% of customers who came to the Paisabazaar platform to check their free credit report were from predominantly Hindi-speaking states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. Paisabazaar.com and its partner credit bureaus believe by making its credit report available in Hindi should help a significant portion of this base garner better understanding of their credit behaviour and increase overall awareness.
Sujata Ahlawat, VP and Head, Direct-to-Consumer Interactive, TransUnion CIBIL, said, “While we have seen a rise in credit awareness among Indian consumers over the last few years, we still have a long way to go. By being able to check their credit report in regional languages on the Paisabazaar.com platform, a significant segment of customers will now be able to improve their awareness and understanding of responsible credit behaviour, and ensure they work towards a high Score.”
Paisabazaar.com has been running India’s largest credit awareness initiative since the beginning of 2017 by providing consumers with their free credit report with monthly updates. Over the last 2 years, the fintech has introduced several industry-first initiatives that helps customers check, compare, track and build their credit score.
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