Digital Credit, Impulsive Decisions: An Empirical Investigation of BNPL Usage Among Youth in North India

This study empirically demonstrates that BNPL usage among Indian youth is a multidimensional phenomenon driven by functional convenience, financial indiscipline, impulsive tendencies, institutional trust dynamics, and social influence in approximately equal measure. While BNPL democratises short-term credit access for a demographic largely excluded from traditional credit systems, it simultaneously creates structural conditions for financial over-extension, impulsive consumption, and debt accumulation. The gender-disaggregated analysis adds nuance: female respondents are more utility-driven in their BNPL adoption, while male respondents exhibit greater financial discipline erosion and impulsive buying behaviour. This differential risk profile has implications for targeted financial literacy interventions. The 41% repayment default rate and the widespread financial stress reported in this study are not merely individual failures - they reflect systemic design features of BNPL platforms that obscure the true cost of credit, gamify spending through promotional offers, and leverage social proof mechanisms that bypass deliberative financial reasoning. Addressing these risks requires not only individual-level financial literacy but also regulatory guardrails, platform-level design nudges, and institutional support from educational establishments.

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