3 days ago
The Gen Z is keeping fintechs on their toes
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Sowmya Ramasubramanian , Mansi Verma From product design shifting from long-term, rigid products to flexible, high-engagement tools matching younger users' short attention spans and appetite for control, fintechs are rapidly rethinking their offerings. The Gen Z already contributes about 46% to global consumer spending, amounting to $860 billion. Gift this article
BENGALURU,MUMBAI :Buoyed by higher starting salaries and more disposable income, Generation Z—people born after 1996—are leading the next transformation in financial services business.
Buoyed by higher starting salaries and more disposable income, Generation Z—people born after 1996—are leading the next transformation in financial services business.
Fintechs such as e-commerce platform Flipkart-backed Grip Broking Private Ltd, and Scapia Technology Pvt. Ltd, among others, are now tailoring features to win them early in their financial journey.
From product design shifting from long-term, rigid products to flexible, high-engagement tools matching younger users' short attention spans and appetite for control, fintechs are rethinking their offerings.
Stride Ventures and Anicut Capital-backed retail investment platform Grip Invest introduced the 'sell anytime" feature in March, allowing investors to sell bonds at any time after holding them for two months. Also Read | Gen Z likes to stay fit with friends and trends
Early results show improved retention, higher engagement, and lower customer acquisition costs. Grip's customer acquisition costs dropped by 25% as a result of higher conversion rates from new and existing users, according to Vaibhav Laddha, chief executive of the company.
'Most bonds are considered illiquid due to longer maturity periods. We launched the feature to create instant liquidity as the new generation is averse to long-term investment commitments," Laddha told Mint.
In July 2025, the number of users under the age of 25 using Grip's services grew nearly 5X year-on-year, underscoring the growing appetite among youngsters for alternative assets and fixed-income products.
Payments app (Scapic Innovations Pvt. Ltd) has introduced a rewards system that ships cashback on UPI payments made through its platform directly to the user's bank account. The feature has helped boost engagement rates by 2.5X over the last few months, with the number of transactions per user per month nearly doubling to 40. The platform had about 10 million monthly active users—with anaverage age of 26-27 years—as of July 2025.
'We stayed away from coins and other rewards because there is general mistrust among users about their utility on digital platforms. With young users at the core of our operations, we want to create a transparent platform that gives users the flexibility of using their money the way they desire," said Prakash Sikaria, the founder of
Peak XV-backed travel-focused fintech startup Scapia has also seen increasing interest from Gen Z for its travel now, pay later (TNPL|) offering. 'A standout behavioural shift is their use of EMIs. One-fifth of Gen Z travel bookings on Scapia are through EMIs. Products like TNPL empower them to manage their budgets while still pursuing these distinctive travel choices," said Anil Goteti, founder and CEO, Scapia. Comparatively, other age groups only use this feature 13-15% of the time.
Other financial services players, such as Slice Small Finance Bank Ltd, are also betting big on India's 300 million underserved but credit-worthy users.
Slice recently introduced a UPI-linked credit card that allows users to make QR code-based UPI payments using their approved credit limit. Bajaj had earlier told Mint that about 5 million users have accessed Slice credit till June, and half of them were new-to-credit customers. The driving force
India boasts the youngest workforce population with a median age of 28 years, according to the Economic Survey of India 2024-25. Also Read | Urban Indian men reject ad stereotypes, demand real portrayals
The survey added that the total dependency ratio—which compares the number of dependent people to those of working age—has also fallen from 64.6% in 2011 to 55.7% in 2021 and is projected to decline further to 54.3% by 2026, meaning more disposable income in Gen Z's hands.
The Gen Z already contributes about 46% to global consumer spending, amounting to $860 billion. In a decade's time, every second rupee spent on consumer categories will come from a Gen Z individual's wallet, according to an October 2024 report by Boston Consulting Group.
'There is a huge market opportunity around young professionals and even teenagers who are drawing their first paycheck and require more personalized solutions. They don't wish to manage money like older people do—they prefer agile, dynamic wealth management solutions over those offered by traditional banks and advisors," said Anirudh Garg, partner at venture capital firm Beenext, backer of BharatPe, Jupiter, and Slice, among others.
'With average starting salaries much higher in recent years, niche money management tools are becoming essential," he added.
An increasing number of young users are using new-age solutions to boost career advancement and secure financial independence, according to a February 2025 report by fintech firm mPokket.
The report said 2025 was likely to see greater financial literacy among young borrowers, with a rise in demand for options with flexible repayment.
'We are seeing that younger users have a higher propensity for DIY [do it yourself] investing, with many of them preferring to educate themselves rather than relying on traditional advisors," said Grip's Laddha.
Grip launched the 'quick start" feature to allow first-time investors to invest as low as ₹ 100 across various asset classes and allow them to withdraw within short maturity windows.
'While this feature may be useful to new users of all age groups, the flexibility of pulling out investments easily allows them to explore different investment options, especially as most young users are unaware of their risk appetite in the first months of their investment journey," Laddha added.
Grip's 'filter and compare" feature—which allows users to compare investment options on parameters like risk, return, and liquidity—is seeing 30% higher conversion rates among users who use the feature versus those who don't, according to Laddha.
Similarly, Goteti said Gen Z's travel habits differ as they are more prone to booking international flights early in life. Scapia has, hence, introduced visa applications for 45 countries to increase engagement for users already on its platform.
is also looking to introduce commerce on its platform to enhance user engagement. On 26 July, it introduced a flight booking option to enable users to transact more frequently. 'We've started experimenting with commerce features, with travel being the first. Keeping UPI as the fundamental infrastructure layer, we'll integrate the various layers of financial services, including insurance, credit cards, and wealth management," Sikaria said. On their toes
Beenext's Garg, however, said some categories lend themselves better as lucrative offerings over others. Wealth management and credit are big areas of opportunity for fintechs simply by virtue of their scaling prospects among young users. 'Some categories like neobanks don't result in high revenue despite a large user base because most users are still using traditional bank accounts." Also Read | What do Gen Z students want? A clean fashion industry
Neobanks—or digital-only platforms that layer technology over partner banks to offer faster and more personalized financial services—remain outside the country's direct regulatory framework, forcing them to tie up with licensed institutions for core banking functions. As growth momentum slows, several players, including Open, Fi, and Jupiter, have been struggling or pivoting.
Even fintechs will have to innovate consistently to keep up with changing transaction patterns in the age of deteriorating attention spans and evolving investment styles. Topics You May Be Interested In Catch all the Business News , Corporate news , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
